The End of Illness

From one of the world’s foremost physicians and researchers, a monumental work that radically redefines our conventional conceptions of health and illness to offer new methods for living a long, healthy life.

Can we live robustly until our last breath? Do we have to suffer from debilitating conditions and sickness? Is it possible to add more vibrant years to our lives? In The End of Illness, David B. Agus, MD, one of the world’s leading cancer doctors, researchers, and technology innovators, tackles these fundamental questions, challenging long-held wisdoms and dismantling misperceptions about what “health” means. Dr. Agus argues for a way of honoring our bodies as complex, whole systems. This outlook informs how we can avoid all illnesses—not just cancer—and empowers us to take charge of our individual health in personal, customized ways we could not have imagined before.

This indispensable book is filled with practical but impossible-to-ignore suggestions, including: how taking multivitamins and supplements could significantly increase our risk for diseases such as cancer over time; why sitting down most of the day, despite a strenuous morning workout, can be as bad as or worse than smoking; how three inexpensive medications can substantially change the course of our health for the better; and the single most important thing we can do today to preserve our health and happiness that costs absolutely nothing.

The End of Illness is a bold call for all of us to become our own personal health advocates, and is a seminal work that promises to fundamentally change how we live.

David B. Agus is a Professor of Medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine and heads USC's Westside Cancer Center and the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine. His research focuses on the application of proteomics and genomics for the study of cancer and the development of new therapeutics for cancer. Dr. Agus received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He has received various honors and awards including the American Cancer Society Physician Research Award, a Clinical Scholar Award from the Sloan-Kettering Institute, the International Myeloma Foundation Visionary Science Award, and the 2009 GQ Magazine Rockstar of Science Award. He is the founder of Oncology.com, the largest cancer Internet resource/community, Applied Proteomics, and Navigenics, a health care technology and wellness company. He lives in California with his wife and children.