David Agus

{{Infobox scientist

| name = David Agus

| image = David B. Agus World Economic Forum 2013.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Agus at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2013

| birth_date =

| fields = {{hlist|Personal genomics|Biotechnology|Cancer}}

| alma_mater = Princeton University (1987)
University of Pennsylvania

| known_for = {{bulletedlist|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)}}|

| awards =

| spouse =

| children = 2

| footnotes =

| education =

}}

David B. Agus ({{IPA|/ˈeɪgəs/}}) is an American physician and author{{Cite web|url=https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/david-b-agus/|title = David B. Agus, MD | Keck School of Medicine of USC| date=July 31, 2018 }} who serves as a professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and Viterbi School of Engineering{{Cite web|title=David Agus|url=https://www.tedmed.com/speakers/show?id=6462|access-date=January 18, 2021|website=TEDMED}} and the Founding Director and CEO of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine.{{Cite web|title=Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine|url=https://ellison.usc.edu/|access-date=January 18, 2021|language=en-US}} He is also the cofounder of several personalized medicine companies{{Cite web|last=Hsieh|first=Nathaniel|date=October 15, 2012|title=Prof focuses on cancer prevention|url=https://dailytrojan.com/2012/10/14/prof-focuses-on-cancer-prevention/|access-date=January 18, 2021|website=Daily Trojan|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Ellison-Agus' Sensei separating farm, retreat units|url=https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2020/07/ellison-argus-sensei-separating-farm-retreat-units/|access-date=January 18, 2021|website=mauinews.com|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=Belvedere|first=Matthew J.|date=January 13, 2016|title=Top cancer doctor: Do these things to live longer|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/13/top-cancer-doctor-do-these-things-to-live-longer.html|access-date=January 18, 2021|website=CNBC|language=en}} and a contributor to CBS News on health topics.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/team/dr-david-agus/|title=Dr. David Agus|website=CBS News |date=October 9, 2014}}

Agus's field of expertise is advanced cancer.{{Cite web|date=April 29, 2020|title=How a Los Angeles doctor got swept up in the White House's Covid-19 response|url=https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/29/david-agus-trump-white-house-coronavirus-response/|access-date=January 18, 2021|website=STAT|language=en-US}} He has developed new cancer treatments with the aid of private foundations, as well as national agencies including the National Cancer Institute. Agus has also served as chair of the Global Agenda Council on Genetics for the World Economic Forum.{{Cite web|title=WVUToday Archive|url=http://wvutoday-archive.wvu.edu/n/2012/09/18/this-year-s-festival-of-ideas-to-provoke-thoughts-on-the-end-of-illness-gay-rights-energy.html|access-date=January 18, 2021|website=wvutoday-archive.wvu.edu}}

Early life and education

Agus grew up in Baltimore.{{cite news|url = https://csq.com/2014/09/dr-david-agus-a-rebel-with-due-cause/|title = Dr. David Agus: A Rebel With Due Cause|last = Seukunian|first = Matthew|date = September 23, 2014|accessdate = May 3, 2023|magazine = C-Suite Quarterly}} 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.{{cite web|title=1990s Donors|url=http://alumni.med.upenn.edu/PartnersinGiving1990.php|work=Medical Alumni Donors|publisher=Penn Medicine Alumni|access-date=November 27, 2011}} He completed his residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and completed his oncology fellowship training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.USC. [http://www.doctorsofusc.com/doctor/bio/view/110799/ "David B. Agus, M.D."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126063051/http://www.doctorsofusc.com/doctor/bio/view/110799|date=November 26, 2011}} Retrieved May 7, 2009. He spent two years at the National Institutes of Health as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-NIH Research Scholar.{{Cite web|title=Beyond the Dome|url=https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/beyond-the-dome|access-date=February 9, 2021|website=www.hopkinsmedicine.org|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=July 10, 2010|title=David Agus, M.D. Profile at UCLA|url=http://dgsom.healthsciences.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=66398https://web.archive.org/web/20100710131128/http://dgsom.healthsciences.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=66398|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710131128/http://dgsom.healthsciences.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=66398|archive-date=July 10, 2010|access-date=February 9, 2021|website=web.archive.org}}

Career

Agus has had a long and varied career. At the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine, he leads a team researching prevention and treatments for cancer.{{Cite web|title=David Agus, M.D. – Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine|url=https://ellison.usc.edu/portfolio/davidagus/|access-date=February 16, 2021|language=en-US}} He also maintains an oncology practice to apply his team's research discoveries to the patients under his care.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Dr. David B. Agus, MD|url=https://health.usnews.com/doctors/david-agus-239265|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825094717/http://health.usnews.com:80/doctors/david-agus-239265 |archive-date=August 25, 2016 |access-date=February 16, 2021|website=U.S. News & World Report}} 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.{{Cite web|title=Geoffrey Beene {{!}} David Agus|url=https://geoffreybeenefoundation.com/rockstars/?page_id=543|access-date=February 16, 2021|language=en-US}}

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.{{Cite web|title=David Agus takes helm at USC Westside Cancer Center and Center for Applied Molecular Medicine|url=https://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=10608.php|access-date=February 16, 2021|website=Nanowerk}}Entrepreneurs' Organization. [http://events.eonetwork.org/2009EOArizonaUniversity/learning/Pages/PowerSpeakers.aspx "Power Speakers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217202225/http://events.eonetwork.org/2009EOArizonaUniversity/learning/Pages/PowerSpeakers.aspx |date=February 17, 2009 }} Retrieved May 6, 2009

Agus's research has focused on the use of technology to model cancer and on new treatments for cancer.{{Cite web | url=http://www.keckmedicine.org/doctor/david-b-agus/ | title=David B. Agus, MD|publisher=Keck Medicine}}{{Cite web|last=Belvedere|first=Matthew J.|date=January 13, 2016|title=Top cancer doctor: Do these things to live longer|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/13/top-cancer-doctor-do-these-things-to-live-longer.html|access-date=February 19, 2021|website=CNBC|language=en}}

He has founded and co-founded several companies including Oncology.com,{{Cite web|last=Hsieh|first=Nathaniel|date=October 15, 2012|title=Prof focuses on cancer prevention|url=https://dailytrojan.com/2012/10/14/prof-focuses-on-cancer-prevention/|access-date=February 19, 2021|website=Daily Trojan|language=en-US}} Navigenics (a personalized medicine company), Applied Proteomics (together with Danny Hillis), Sensei (wellness and lifestyle company, together with Larry Ellison),{{Cite web|title=Ellison-Agus' Sensei separating farm, retreat units|url=https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2020/07/ellison-argus-sensei-separating-farm-retreat-units/|access-date=February 19, 2021|website=mauinews.com|language=en-US}} and Sensei Agriculture.

In 2021, Agus and the Ellison Institute launched Global Health Security Consortium, 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.{{cite news |author= |date=May 7, 2021 |title=Dr. David Agus announces new global initiative to track COVID variants using genomic sequencing |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/video/dr-david-agus-announces-new-global-initiative-to-track-covid-variants-using-genomic-sequencing/ |work=CBS News |location= |access-date=November 21, 2022}}{{cite news |author= |date=October 24, 2022 |title=The perilously small supply of psychiatrists|url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/future-pulse/2022/10/24/the-shrinking-supply-of-psychiatrists-00063068 |work=Politico |location= |access-date=November 29, 2022}}

==Plagiarism controversy==

On March 6, 2023, the Los Angeles Times reported that "at least 95 separate passages" in Agus' book The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature's Lessons for a Long and Happy Life were plagiarized, with the word choice in some instances found to be identical to that in existing sources. The book was initially set to be released the following day by Simon and Schuster, but after the article's publication, it was postponed until the sections in question could be rewritten. Agus issued a public apology.{{cite news|url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-david-agus-accused-plagiarism-prompting-recall-the-book-of-animal-secrets/|title = Dr. David Agus accused of plagiarism, prompting book recall|work = CBS News|date = March 6, 2023|accessdate = March 7, 2023}}

On March 17, 2023, the Times further reported that Agus's first three books; The End of Illness, A Short Guide to a Long Life, and The Lucky Years: How to Thrive in the Brave New World of Health, contained over 120 instances where passages were identical to other texts from sources including books, articles in scientific journals, science blogs, online articles and Wikipedia articles. Almost all of the copied paragraphs or passages did not attribute the original authors. Augus stated he was not aware of, nor had any involvement in the passages that were supposedly plagairised and stated the specific passages were written by his co-writer Kristen Loberg.{{cite web |title=Examination of USC doctor's earlier books finds more troubling instances of plagiarism |url=https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2023-03-17/usc-david-agus-books-plagiarism |website=Los Angeles Times |date=March 17, 2023}}

= Television show =

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.{{cite news |author=Ted Johnson |date=November 29, 2022 |title=Paramount+ To Debut Dr. David Agus Docuseries Featuring Conversations With Ashton Kutcher, Nick Cannon And Other Celebrities About Their Health Struggles |url=https://deadline.com/2022/11/david-agus-ashton-kutcher-cbs-news-paramount-plus-1235183913/ |work=Deadline |location= |access-date=November 29, 2022}}