David B. Agus, MD

Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering

Director, Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC

Director, USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine

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Overview

David B. Agus is a professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine and Viterbi School of Engineering. He is the founding director and CEO of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine. A medical oncologist, Dr. Agus leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers dedicated to the development and use of technologies to guide doctors in making health-care decisions tailored to individual needs. An international leader in new technologies and approaches for personalized healthcare, Dr. Agus serves in leadership roles at the World Economic Forum and the Global Health Security Consortium. He is also a CBS News contributor. Dr. Agus’ 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” are all New York Times and international bestsellers. Dr. Agus graduated cum laude with honors in molecular biology from Princeton University, and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his medical internship and residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Awards

  • American Cancer Society: Physician Research Award, 1996
     – 2001
  • Sloan-Kettering Institute: Clinical Scholar Award, 1996
  • American Cancer Society: Clinical Oncology Fellowship Award, 1994
  • HealthNetwork Foundation: Excellence Award, 2008
  • Geoffrey Beene Foundation: Rock Stars of Science™, 2009
  • Biotech Humanitarian Award: Selected Judge, 2009
  • USC Association of Trojan Leagues: Outstanding Service Award, 2013
  • American College of Physicians: Fellow, 2016
  • Ellis Island Medal of Honor: Medalist, 2017

Research Funding

  • (PQB6)An Integrative Computational and Bioengineered Tissue Model of Metastasis
    NIH · R01CA180149 · Sep 5, 2013 – Jul 31, 2018 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • UCLA SPORE in Prostate Cancer
    NIH · P50CA092131 · Jul 1, 2001 – Aug 31, 2024 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator

Publications

  • Sovereign AI supercomputers: a global landscape review of unprecedented biomedical research infrastructure. Front Artif Intell. 2026; 9:1796682.. View in PubMed
  • Monitoring the rate and variability of somatic genomic alterations using long-read sequencing. Sci Rep. 2025 Jun 11; 15(1):18397.. View in PubMed
  • A consensus statement on dual purpose pathogen surveillance systems: The always on approach. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2024; 4(11):e0003762.. View in PubMed
  • Successful adult vaccine drives must centre disability inclusion – Authors’ reply. Lancet. 2023 07 29; 402(10399):370.. View in PubMed
  • An Inflection Point in Cancer Protein Biomarkers: What was and What’s Next. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2023 07; 22(7):100569.. View in PubMed
  • COVID-19 and other adult vaccines can drive global disease prevention. Lancet. 2023 01 07; 401(10370):8-10.. View in PubMed
  • High-throughput microscopy reveals the impact of multifactorial environmental perturbations on colorectal cancer cell growth. Gigascience. 2021 04 19; 10(4).. View in PubMed
  • Paradoxical androgen receptor regulation by small molecule enantiomers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 03 23; 118(12).. View in PubMed
  • Cancer Moonshot 2.0. Lancet Oncol. 2021 02; 22(2):164-165.. View in PubMed
  • Deep learning-enabled breast cancer hormonal receptor status determination from base-level H&E stains. Nat Commun. 2020 11 16; 11(1):5727.. View in PubMed