Eric Topol

Eric Jeffrey Topol (born 26 June 1954 ) is an American cardiologist, scientist, and author.

He is the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, a professor of Molecular Medicine and Executive Vice-President at Scripps Research Institute, and a senior consultant at the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California.

At the University of Virginia, Topol authored his baccalaureate thesis in 1975 entitled “Prospects for Genetic Therapy in Man” and received a Bachelor of Arts degree With Highest Distinction.

During his fellowship at Johns Hopkins, he was involved with the first patient who was administered tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) in 1984, a genetically engineered protein.

In 1996, he started the first dedicated cardiovascular gene bank while at Cleveland Clinic.

This effort led to many discoveries in the genetics of cardiovascular disease, including the identification of key genes associated with heart attacks.

He was the first physician to serve on CardioNet's Medical Advisory Board in 1999, the first dedicated digital medicine company that performs real-time remote, continuous electrocardiogram rhythm monitoring.

Both thrombospondin variants and the MEF2A deletion reports were recognized as top 10 advances by the American Heart Association in 2000 and 2004.

In 2002 he founded the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, the first new medical school in the US in 20 years, with its first class in 2004, and served as its provost and chief academic officer of the Cleveland Clinic.

In 2003 he became a professor of genetics at Case Western Reserve University, while maintaining his primary appointment at Cleveland Clinic.

He was the principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health's Specialized Centers of Clinically Oriented Research grant on the genomics of heart attack with a $17M award in 2005.

His work in genetics has been recognized by the American College of Cardiology with the Simon Dack Award and Lecture in 2005 and by the European Society of Cardiology by the Andreas Gruentzig Award and Lecture in 2004.

Topol has been involved with digital medicine since its inception.

He has been labeled as the "Dean of Digital Medicine."

Topol departed from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine in 2006 following the removal of the chief academic officer position, and continued at Case Western Reserve University.

He was then recruited by Scripps Health and The Scripps Research Institute in late 2006 to create a new institute, now called Scripps Research Translational, dedicated to individualized medicine.

In 2007 he joined the Board of Sotera that has developed the first continuous non-invasive blood pressure monitoring device, which also captures all vital signs.

Topol’s group has been supported by the CTSA since 2008, with the most recent funding of $46.8 million being awarded in 2023 for 7 years.

As a researcher, Topol has published over 1,300 peer-reviewed articles, with more than 340,000 citations, 244 h-index, elected to the National Academy of Medicine, and is one of the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine.

His principal scientific focus has been on the genomic and digital tools, with the use of artificial intelligence analytics, to individualize medicine.

He also pioneered the development of many medications that are routinely used in medical practice including t-PA, Plavix, Angiomax, and ReoPro.

He has led clinical trials in over 40 countries involving over 200,000 patients (first in series – GUSTO trials).

In 2008 he forged a new educational program with Qualcomm and Scripps Health to train physicians in medicine, a 2-year clinician scholar program: STSI Health Scholar.

In 2009, Topol worked with Gary and Mary West to create the West Wireless Health Institute, now called West Health Institute, to foster the use of digital tools in medical research and practice.

Following the groundbreaking Deep Medicine book, Topol has published multiple original research and review papers in leading peer reviewed journals on medical A.I. In addition, he published a weekly update of all leading peer reviewed medical A.I. papers via Doctor Penguin, and frequent open-access essays on the latest in medical A.I in Ground Truths.

In 2023 he also presented a TED Talk on the transformative power of A.I. in medicine.

At the 2009 International Wireless CTIA meeting, he gave the keynote address on digital health, the first time that topic was the subject of a CTIA plenary session.

Also in 2009, he served as co-founder with Gary and Mary West to form the West Wireless Health Institute.

He is the vice-chairman of the institute and its chief innovation officer.

In 2009 he also presented at TEDMED the rapid progress being made in this field.

He has published three bestseller books on the future of medicine: The Creative Destruction of Medicine (2010), The Patient Will See You Now (2015), and Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again (2019).

In addition, in early 2010 Topol gave a digital medicine presentation at the Consumer Electronic Show.

In 2016, Topol was awarded a US$207 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to lead a significant part of the Precision Medicine Initiative (All of Us Research Program), a one million American prospective research program.

This funding was renewed in 2023 for $282 million over five years.

This is in addition to his role as principal investigator for the Scripps hub of the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program, aimed at promoting innovation in medicine and future medical researchers' education and career training.

He was commissioned by the UK from 2018–2019 to lead planning for the National Health Service's future workforce, integrating genomics, digital medicine, and artificial intelligence.

He has edited over 30 books, including the Textbook of Interventional Cardiology (8th ed - Elsevier, 2020), and the Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine (3rd ed - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins).

Topol completed medical school at the University of Rochester (MD with Honor), his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and his fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

Topol was a tenured professor at the University of Michigan for 6 years.

At age 36, Topol was named chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, where he is widely credited for leading its already long outstanding cardiovascular program to being ranked #1 by U.S. News & World Report for more than a decade during his 13 years at the helm.