David Agus

David Agus
Agus at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2013
Born (1965-01-29) January 29, 1965 (age 59)[citation needed]
Alma materPrinceton University (1987)
University of Pennsylvania
Known for
  • Professor of Medicine and Engineering
  • Co-founder of Navigenics
  • Co-founder of Applied Proteomics
  • The End of Illness (2012)
  • A Short Guide to a Long Life (2014)
SpouseAmy Povich
Children2
Scientific career
Fields

David B. Agus (/ˈeɪgəs/) is an American physician, cancer researcher and author[1] who serves as a professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and Viterbi School of Engineering[2] and the Founding Director and CEO of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine.[3] He is also the cofounder of several personalized medicine companies[4][5][6][7] and a contributor to CBS News on health topics.[8] He is also the author of four books.[9][10][11]

Agus's field of expertise is advanced cancer.[7] He has developed new cancer treatments with the aid of private foundations, as well as national agencies including the National Cancer Institute.[6] Agus has also served as chair of the Global Agenda Council on Genetics for the World Economic Forum,[12] and presently co-chairs the Global Health Security Consortium.[13]

Early life and education

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He graduated cum laude in molecular biology from Princeton University in 1987 and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in 1991.[14] He completed his residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and completed his oncology fellowship training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.[7][15] He spent two years at the National Institutes of Health as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-NIH Research Scholar.[16][17]

Career

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Agus has had a long and varied career. At the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute of Technology, he leads a team researching prevention and treatments for cancer.[18] He also maintains an oncology practice to apply his team's research discoveries to the patients under his care.[19] At the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, he was an attending physician in the Department of Medical Oncology and head of the Laboratory of Tumor Biology. He was also assistant professor of medicine at Cornell University Medical Center.[20]

As director of the Spielberg Family Center for Applied Proteomics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, he led a multidisciplinary team of researchers dedicated to the development and use of proteomic technologies to guide doctors in making health-care decisions tailored to individual needs. The center grew out of earlier clinical projects at Cedars-Sinai, where Agus served as an attending physician in oncology, which observed striking differences between the aggressiveness of prostate cancer in certain patients and their ability to respond to treatment.[21][22]

Agus also formerly served as Director of the Louis Warschaw Prostate Cancer Center, and as an attending physician in the Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.[20] He was also an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

He is presently a professor of Medicine and Engineering at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and is the CEO and Founding Director of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine in Los Angeles and Oxford, England.[23][24] Agus chairs the Global Agenda Council (GAC) on Genetics for the World Economic Forum,[25] and speaks regularly at TEDMED,[26] the Aspen Ideas Festival[27] and the World Economic Forum.[25]

Agus's research has focused on the use of technology to model cancer and on new treatments for cancer.[28][29] He has published many scientific articles.[30]

Additional work and affiliations

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He is a member of several scientific and medical societies, including the Council on Foreign Relations,[31] American Association for Cancer Research,[32] American College of Physicians,[33] American Society of Clinical Oncology.[34][35] Agus became a contributor for CBS News in 2013 and appears regularly on CBS This Morning and other CBS News platforms.[36]

He has founded and co-founded several companies including Oncology.com,[37] Navigenics (a personalized medicine company),[29] Applied Proteomics (together with Danny Hillis),[29] Sensei (wellness and lifestyle company, together with Larry Ellison),[38] Sensei Agriculture (an agriculture data and technology company together with Larry Ellison),[38] and Project Ronin (a cancer clinical intelligence company together with Larry Ellison).[39]

In 2021, Agus and the Ellison Institute launched Global Health Security Consortium (GHSC), a joint global effort with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Sir John Bell and a team of scientists at the University of Oxford, focused on finding ways to track and treat COVID-19 and prevent future pandemics.[40][41] GHSC is co-chaired by Agus with Sirs Tony Blair and John Bell. The group launched the OneShot campaign in October 2022 to build global digital health infrastructure and promote life course disease prevention programs.[42]

Agus co-chaired the Fortune Brainstorm Health conference from its inception in 2016 until 2022,[43] and the inaugural Time100 Health Summit in 2019.[44] He has hosted public health conversations with individuals like Bill Clinton,[45] Joe Biden,[46] and Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer.[47]

Writing career

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Agus' first book, The End of Illness, was published in 2012 [48] is a New York Times best seller and international best seller and was the subject of a PBS series.[49][9] His books A Short Guide to a Long Life[10] and The Lucky Years: How to Thrive in the Brave New World of Health[50] are also New York Times and international bestsellers.[51]

Agus occasionally collaborated with co-writer Kristen Loberg on the recommendation of his publisher Simon & Schuster.[52] On March 6, 2023, it was reported that the passages Loberg contributed to Agus' book The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature's Lessons for a Long and Happy Life contained heavy plagiarism.[53] Loberg issued a public apology and Agus stated that she misled him during the writing process by claiming to use antiplagiarism software.[54] Agus reviewed earlier works co-written by Loberg and informed Simon & Schuster that she had previously engaged in plagiarism.[55] Other publishers and physicians who had worked with Loberg, including Penguin Random House, Sanjay Gupta, and David Perlmutter, subsequently discovered further plagiarism by her.[54]

The Book of Animal Secrets was initially set to be released on March 17, 2023, but sales were postponed at Agus' expense so that he could rewrite the book.[56] It is scheduled for release on December 5, 2023.[57]

Awards

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Agus has received many honors and awards, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor (2017),[58] American Cancer Society Physician Research Award,[59][60][61] a Clinical Scholar Award from the Sloan-Kettering Institute,[34][62] a CaP CURE Young Investigator Award[61] and the American Society of Clinical Oncology Fellowship Award,[63] the HealthNetwork Foundation's Excellence Award,[63] and the 2009 Geoffrey Beene Foundation's Rock Stars of Science, as seen in GQ.[64] In 2009, he was selected to serve as a judge for the first Biotech Humanitarian Award.[65][66]

Television show

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Agus hosted a Paramount+ television show titled The Check Up with Dr. David Agus, which was broadcast starting in December 2022. In the show, Agus discussed different medical issues with celebrity guests who have experience with those health concerns.[67]

Perjeta clinical development

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Agus and Mark Sliwkowski published the first studies with an antibody called 2C4 (pertuzumab or Perjeta), targeting the Her-2 molecule in breast and other cancers. This was the first drug that inhibited dimerization of receptors as its mechanism of action.[68] The mechanistic paper led to a phase 1 clinical trial led by Agus and further clinical studies in advanced breast cancer and other cancers.[69][70] In 2012, the FDA gave the first of several approvals of Perjeta for combination with trastuzumab and docetaxel for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who have not received prior anti-HER2 therapy or chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Perjeta was the first FDA approved drug that worked by inhibiting dimerization of receptors.[71][72]

Personal life

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Agus is married to Amy Joyce Povich, actress and daughter of syndicated television talk show host Maury Povich. Her stepmother, Connie Chung, is a former CBS News anchor. His grandfather, Rabbi Jacob B. Agus, was a theologian and the author of several books on Jewish history and philosophy. Agus has two children.[73]

Miscellaneous

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Agus appears in the 2006 documentary Who Needs Sleep?.[74] PBS released a documentary on Agus' first book The End of Illness in 2016.[75] Agus delivered a TEDMED 2009 lecture on "A new strategy in the war on cancer", which is one of the most watched cancer talks on TED.com,[76] and a TEDMED talk with Lance Armstrong in 2011.[77]

Agus was also the physician to Johnny Ramone during his battle with prostate cancer,[48] and other prominent individuals.[78] He was on the board of directors of the Biden Cancer Initiative[79] until it was closed when Joe Biden ran for president,[80] Thrive Global, ImageneAI,[81] Project Ronin,[82] Sensei, Sensei Ag, the National Library of Israel[83] and the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.[84][85]

Bibliography

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  • 2012, The End of Illness. Free Press; Illustrated edition  ISBN 9781451610192
  • 2014, A Short Guide to a Long Life, Simon & Schuster ISBN 9781476736099
  • 2017, The Lucky Years: How to Thrive in the Brave New World of Health, Simon & Schuster ISBN 1476712115
  • 2023, The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature's Lessons for a Long and Happy Life, Simon & Schuster ISBN 1982103027

References

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  2. ^ "David Agus". TEDMED. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
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  5. ^ "Ellison-Agus' Sensei separating farm, retreat units". mauinews.com. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Belvedere, Matthew J. (January 13, 2016). "Top cancer doctor: Do these things to live longer". CNBC. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "How a Los Angeles doctor got swept up in the White House's Covid-19 response". STAT. April 29, 2020. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  8. ^ "Dr. David Agus". CBS News. October 9, 2014.
  9. ^ a b Agus, David B. (October 16, 2012). The End of Illness. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-1019-2.
  10. ^ a b Agus, David B. (December 30, 2014). A Short Guide to a Long Life. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-3609-9.
  11. ^ "David B. Agus, MD | Keck School of Medicine of USC". July 31, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  12. ^ "WVUToday Archive". wvutoday-archive.wvu.edu. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  13. ^ Dr. David Agus announces new global initiative to track COVID variants using genomic sequencing, retrieved May 4, 2023
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  16. ^ "Beyond the Dome". www.hopkinsmedicine.org. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
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  22. ^ Entrepreneurs' Organization. "Power Speakers" Archived February 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved May 6, 2009
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  38. ^ a b "Ellison-Agus' Sensei separating farm, retreat units". mauinews.com. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  39. ^ "Project Ronin - Founded by David Agus, Larry Ellison, and Dave Hodgson". Project Ronin. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  40. ^ "Dr. David Agus announces new global initiative to track COVID variants using genomic sequencing". CBS News. May 7, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  41. ^ "The perilously small supply of psychiatrists". Politico. October 24, 2022. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
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  43. ^ "BRAINSTORM HEALTH: CONNECTING THE WORLD". Fortune.
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  45. ^ "42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton to Join the TIME 100 Health Summit in New York, NY on October 17". Time. October 15, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  46. ^ "The Urgency of Now: Dr. David Agus Interviews Former Vice President Joe Biden on the Cancer Moonshot | Keck School of Medicine of USC". May 3, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  47. ^ "Brainstorm Health 2022 - Leveraging New Frontiers: The Importance Of A Global Strategy". fortune.com. Retrieved May 5, 2023.[permanent dead link‍]
  48. ^ a b The End of Illness | Book by David B. Agus - Simon & Schuster. Books.simonandschuster.com. January 17, 2012. ISBN 9781451610178. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  49. ^ "Beyond the Dome". www.hopkinsmedicine.org. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  50. ^ "David B. Agus, MD | Keck School of Medicine of USC". July 31, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  51. ^ Times, The New York (February 10, 2014). "Best Selling Science Books (Published 2014)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  52. ^ Stein, Joel (March 24, 2023). "Giving Up the Ghostwriter". LA Mag.
  53. ^ Purtill, Corinne (March 6, 2023). "We found 95 instances of plagiarism in a USC scientist's new book. Sales have been suspended". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  54. ^ a b "Examination of USC doctor's earlier books finds more troubling instances of plagiarism". Los Angeles Times. March 17, 2023.
  55. ^ "Dr. David Agus accused of plagiarism, prompting book recall". CBS News. March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  56. ^ Goodwin, Grace Eliza. "A famed oncologist's bestselling new health book about 'animal secrets' got yanked off the shelves after the LA Times discovered he copied from Wikipedia". Insider. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  57. ^ Agus, David B. (June 21, 2023). The Book of Animal Secrets. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-6680-2257-3. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  58. ^ "Congressional Record" (PDF).
  59. ^ "Interview with the Author of "The End of Illness," David Agus, MD". ASCO Connection. January 25, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
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  61. ^ a b Agus, David B.; Cordon-Cardo, Carlos; Fox, William; Drobnjak, Marija; Koff, Andrew; Golde, David W.; Scher, Howard I. (November 3, 1999). "Prostate Cancer Cell Cycle Regulators: Response to Androgen Withdrawal and Development of Androgen Independence". JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 91 (21): 1869–1876. doi:10.1093/jnci/91.21.1869. ISSN 0027-8874. PMID 10547394.
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  66. ^ "Eleven Biotech Leaders Named to Biotech Humanitarian Award Judges Panel". BIO. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  67. ^ Ted Johnson (November 29, 2022). "Paramount+ To Debut Dr. David Agus Docuseries Featuring Conversations With Ashton Kutcher, Nick Cannon And Other Celebrities About Their Health Struggles". Deadline. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  68. ^ Agus, David B; Akita, Robert W; Fox, William D; Lewis, Gail D; Higgins, Brian; Pisacane, Paul I; Lofgren, Julie A; Tindell, Charles; Evans, Douglas P; Maiese, Krista; Scher, Howard I; Sliwkowski, Mark X (August 1, 2002). "Targeting ligand-activated ErbB2 signaling inhibits breast and prostate tumor growth". Cancer Cell. 2 (2): 127–137. doi:10.1016/S1535-6108(02)00097-1. ISSN 1535-6108. PMID 12204533.
  69. ^ Agus, David B.; Gordon, Michael S.; Taylor, Charles; Natale, Ronald B.; Karlan, Beth; Mendelson, David S.; Press, Michael F.; Allison, David E.; Sliwkowski, Mark X.; Lieberman, Gracie; Kelsey, Stephen M.; Fyfe, Gwen (April 10, 2005). "Phase I clinical study of pertuzumab, a novel HER dimerization inhibitor, in patients with advanced cancer". Journal of Clinical Oncology. 23 (11): 2534–2543. doi:10.1200/JCO.2005.03.184. ISSN 0732-183X. PMID 15699478.
  70. ^ Kang, Y.-K.; Rha, S. Y.; Tassone, P.; Barriuso, J.; Yu, R.; Szado, T.; Garg, A.; Bang, Y.-J. (August 2014). "A phase IIa dose-finding and safety study of first-line pertuzumab in combination with trastuzumab, capecitabine and cisplatin in patients with HER2-positive advanced gastric cancer". British Journal of Cancer. 111 (4): 660–666. doi:10.1038/bjc.2014.356. ISSN 1532-1827. PMC 4134501. PMID 24960402.
  71. ^ Research, Center for Drug Evaluation and (February 9, 2019). "FDA grants regular approval to pertuzumab for adjuvant treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer". FDA.
  72. ^ Blumenthal, Gideon M.; Scher, Nancy S.; Cortazar, Patricia; Chattopadhyay, Somesh; Tang, Shenghui; Song, Pengfei; Liu, Qi; Ringgold, Kimberly; Pilaro, Anne M.; Tilley, Amy; King, Kathryn E.; Graham, Laurie; Rellahan, Barbara L.; Weinberg, Wendy C.; Chi, Bo (September 15, 2013). "First FDA approval of dual anti-HER2 regimen: pertuzumab in combination with trastuzumab and docetaxel for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer". Clinical Cancer Research. 19 (18): 4911–4916. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-1212. ISSN 1557-3265. PMID 23801166. S2CID 11348603.
  73. ^ Amy J. Povich; David B. Agus (June 5, 1994). "Weddings". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 31, 2009. Retrieved May 7, 2009.
  74. ^ "Tiburon International Film Festival". www.tiburonfilmfestival.com. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  75. ^ "David B. Agus, MD". Los Angeles Business Journal. July 30, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  76. ^ Agus, David (February 4, 2010), A new strategy in the war on cancer, retrieved May 5, 2023
  77. ^ "Lance Armstrong & David Agus at TEDMED 2011 - YouTube". YouTube. February 6, 2012. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  78. ^ Stein, Joel (February 2, 2022). "Can the World's Most Connected Doctor Cure Cancer?". LA Mag.
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  80. ^ "Biden cancer group shuts down operations". Reuters. July 15, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  81. ^ FinSMEs (May 3, 2022). "Imagene AI Raises $21.5M in Seed and Series A". FinSMEs. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  82. ^ Florko, Rebecca Robbins, Nicholas (April 29, 2020). "How a Los Angeles doctor got swept up in the swirl of the Trump White House as it confronts the pandemic". STAT. Retrieved May 2, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  83. ^ "Governance and Leadership". renewal.nli.org.il. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  84. ^ "2018 Impact Report" (PDF). peres-center.org. 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 14, 2021.
  85. ^ Loder, Kurt (June 16, 2004). "Johnny Ramone Not Dying His Doctor Says". MTV News. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
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Interviews, articles and podcasts

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