Eric Topol on Why Doctors Need to Organize

Eric Topol is an American cardiologist, scientist, and author. He is the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, a professor of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute, and a senior consultant at the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California. He is editor-in-chief of Medscape and theheart.org. 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). He was also commissioned by the UK 2018–2019 to lead planning for the National Health Service's future workforce, integrating genomics, digital medicine, and artificial intelligence. 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 is in addition to his role as principal investigator for a US$35 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to promote innovation in medicine and the education and career training of future medical researchers. Lyrics to the song that was inspired by the interview: DOCTORS UNITE We need the doctors to lead the fight We need the doctors to combine their might We need the doctors to lead every campaign We need the doctors to take this on We need the doctors to be strong We need the doctors to stand up in our name Obesity is killing people It's an epidemic Heart disease is deadly And it's become endemic Who can end the nightmare What can stop the pain? Dieticians? Or marketing campaigns? No, the remedy is Universal Doctors unite Doctors are stressed to breaking By unnecessary work Tied down to their keyboards They are data entry clerks Who can end the nightmare? What can stop the pain? Medical Administrators, this is their terrain No, the remedy is Universal Doctors unite We need the doctors to lead the fight We need the doctors to combine their might We need the doctors to lead every campaign We need the doctors to take this on We need the doctors to be strong We need the doctors to stand up in our name There are so many issues So many fights From inequality to poverty Don't mention gun rights But if one million doctors Were together in one lane Imagine their power How much they could change Opioids are overused A crisis now exists Doctors serve  as drug dispensers For big pharma lobbyists Who can end the nightmare? What can stop the pain? Possibly new legislation? Or something in that vein? No, the remedy is Universal Doctors unite We need the doctors to lead the fight We need the doctors to combine their might We need the doctors to lead every campaign We need the doctors to take this on We need the doctors to be strong We need the doctors to stand up in our name We need the doctors to unite We need the doctors to aim a strike We need the doctors to get us out of this The remedy is Universal Doctors unite