Eric Topol - Research and Training

Research and Training

Topol's research career has been in two major areas: clinical development of new drugs and devices and genomics. Topol pioneered the development of many medications that are routinely used in medical practice including t-PA, Plavix, Angiomax, and ReoPro. He has led worldwide clinical trials in over 40 countries involving over 200,000 patients (First in series – GUSTO trials). His work in the genomics of heart attack has led to discovery of key genes (MEF2A deletion, Thrombospondin variants) which led to recognition by the American Heart Association top 10 research advances in 2001 and 2003. He has over 1000 original peer reviewed publications, and has edited over 30 books, including the Textbook of Interventional Cardiology (6th ed - Elsevier), and the Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine (3rd ed - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins).

His previous training was at the University of Rochester (medical school), University of California, San Francisco (internal medicine), and Johns Hopkins University (cardiology). Topol was a tenured Professor at the University of Michigan for 6 years. At age 36, Topol was named Chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, where he is widely credited with leading its cardiovascular program to the topmost position in the US. In 2002 he founded the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and in 2003 he became a Professor of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University while maintaining his primary appointment at Cleveland Clinic.

Topol departed from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine in 2006 following the removal of the Chief Academic Officer position, and continued on as a Professor of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University. He was then recruited by Scripps Health and The Scripps Research Institute in late 2006 to the post of Chief Academic Officer and Professor of Translational Genomics. In 2009, Topol worked with Gary and Mary West to create the West Wireless Health Institute, made possible by their philanthropic gift, and leads the field in developing, validating and accelerating wireless medicine.