Hospitals

Ex-Cleveland Clinic colleagues Topol, Nissen at odds on personalized medicine

Two of the Cleveland Clinic‘s greatest doctors ever, Eric Topol and Steven Nissen, have carved […]

Two of the Cleveland Clinic‘s greatest doctors ever, Eric Topol and Steven Nissen, have carved out contrasting views on one of the hottest topics in healthcare: personalized medicine.

The preeminent cardiologists’ opposing viewpoints recently came to light after Nissen, currently the Clinic’s chair of cardiovascular medicine, penned an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Forbes reported. In the piece, Nissen decries the “unrealistic expectations” surrounding personalized medicine in specialties such as cardiovascular medicine.

“Unfortunately, in the popular press, the concept of personalized medicine has taken on a nearly cult-like following with public pronouncements describing how future physicians will use therapies that reflect the specific genetic makeup of individual patients,” Nissen wrote.

That sentiment puts Nissen in a stark contrast to Topol, formerly Nissen’s boss at the Clinic and currently chief academic officer at Scripps Health, who’s been a staunch advocate of personalized medicine. A recent press release from Scripps hailed Topol’s “current work in personalized medicine and digital technology [that] positions him as a leader in the movement to modernize medical treatment .”

While’s there’s almost certainly nothing personal about this clash of professional opinions between Nissen and Topol, the juxtaposition holds additional subtext because both men have been so closely connected to the Clinic’s world-renowned heart program for the last couple decades.

Topol led the Clinic’s cardiology department for 14 years — helping establish it as a world leader — but left the institution in 2006 after he lost the CEO job to rival Dr. Toby Cosgrove, who remains the Clinic’s chief executive. Nissen, who had been Topol’s deputy, took the top spot in the cardiology department after Topol’s departure.

The two collaborated on numerous papers before Topol left the Clinic, but have not collaborated since, Forbes notes.

The personalized medicine dust-up stems from a meta analysis relating to an anti-clotting drug called clopidogrel that was published in the same issue of JAMA. Topol called the study “remarkably misleading.”

Nissen didn’t write the study; rather he wrote an editorial that accompanied it.

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