AT&T Names Dr. Eric Topol New Chief Medical Advisor

AT&T has appointed Eric Topol, MD, as its Chief Medical Advisor. Dr. Topol will impact the design, development and delivery of AT&T’s healthcare IT solutions, connecting the healthcare ecosystem to enhance health outcomes and care delivery processes for patients and their caregivers.

Dr. Topol is a premier cardiologist, geneticist and researcher, and will continue in his position as the Chief Academic Officer at Scripps Health. He brings his extensive industry and health IT knowledge to the planning and execution of AT&T’s healthcare industry program. Dr. Topol will offer strategic guidance in key areas such as emerging devices and mHealth products and services. His input will enhance AT&T’s existing health IT solutions and drive consumer and enterprise adoption in an increasingly digital world.

“Dr. Topol is a change agent who has dedicated his career to creating awareness and promoting adoption of health IT solutions to improve patient care.” said Chris Hill, senior vice president, Advanced Solutions, AT&T Business Solutions. “Enlisting Dr. Topol into our AT&T ForHealth program will help us drive our competitive strategy as we focus on innovative solutions powered by our network.”

“With connected devices, the flow of health and medical information is going through a radical change, which puts patients in an exceptionally powerful and important position. I’m honored to work with AT&T as we seek to develop new solutions that will change the trajectory of digital health and impact patient outcomes.” Dr. Topol said.

On top of his responsibilities for Scripps and AT&T, Dr. Topol is author of the best-selling book The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care and editor-in-chief of Medscape. He is also the founder of Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Dr. Topol has been involved with the evolution of wireless medicine since its emergence. He is elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and was voted as the No. 1 most influential physician executive in the U.S. in a 2012 poll conducted by Modern Healthcare.

AT&T delivers innovative application, mobile, cloud-based and networking solutions. By improving communication among providers, patients and healthcare teams, AT&T is leading the way to a more integrated approach to healthcare delivery.