David Fajgenbaum
- Physician- Scientist
- Disease Hunter
David Fajgenbaum Speaker Biography
David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, is a groundbreaking physician-scientist, disease hunter, speaker, and national bestselling author of Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope Into Action.
Best known as the ‘doctor who cured himself’ (Doctor Cure Thyself, NY Times), Fajgenbaum went from being a beast-like college Quarterback to receiving his last rites while in medical school and nearly dying four more times battling Castleman disease. To try to save his own life, he spearheaded an innovative approach to research through the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN) and discovered a treatment that is saving his life and others.
Now, he is spreading this approach to other diseases (His method could save millions, CNN) such as COVID19 and co-founded Every Cure in 2022 to unlock the full potential of every drug to treat every disease possible. He has now identified and advanced 17 repurposed treatments for diseases they weren’t initially intended for. Fajgenbaum also continues to share lessons he learned about life, hope, and resilience from nearly dying through Chasing My Cure, which has been profiled by Good Morning America, CNN, NPR’s Fresh Air, and BBC News, among others, translated into over five languages, and named one of the “Best Non-Fiction Books” by Next Big Ideas Club.
One of the youngest professors to receive tenure in the history of Penn Medicine and one of the youngest awardees of multiple leading NIH and FDA grants, Dr. Fajgenbaum has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, as a top healthcare leader by Becker’s Hospital Review, the Global Genes RARE Champion of Hope: Science awardee, and one of three recipients–including then Vice President Joe Biden–of a 2016 Atlas Award as well as a 2021 NDRI Service to Science Award along with Nobel Laureates Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman. He has been profiled in a cover story by The New York Times as well as by Good Morning America, CNN, and the Today Show, among others.
Dr. Fajgenbaum has published scientific papers in high-impact journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and Journal of Clinical Investigation, including a paper selected as one of the top innovations in science and medicine by STAT News in 2020. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA, co-Chair of the Advisory Board for the CURE Drug Repurposing Collaboratory, and co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the CDCN.
Before co-founding the CDCN, Dr. Fajgenbaum co-founded and led the Actively Moving Forward Support Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting grieving college students. Dr. Fajgenbaum earned a BS from Georgetown University magna cum laude with honors and distinction, MSc from the University of Oxford, MD from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and MBA from The Wharton School. He is a former Division I college quarterback, state-champion weight lifter, and co-founder of a national grief support network.
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From Chasing My Cure to Every Cure
During Fajgenbaum’s 3rd year of medical school he became very sick and fatigued. It took quite some time for Fajgenbaum to be diagnosed with Castleman’s Disease, after his doctors originally thought that he had lymphoma. Castleman’s Disease is a rare immune dysregulation where a hyperactivated immune system attacks the patient’s own body.
Reflecting on that time, Fajgenbaum sees himself as a naïve medical student who trusted that there was set criteria for diagnosing and treating most diseases. He imagined that medical doctors and researchers seamlessly work together to find cures for diseases.
Through his first-hand experience as a patient he learned that this is often not the case, especially for rare diseases such as Castleman’s. This reflection taught Fagjenbaum that hope is not be a passive concept – rather, it’s a choice and a force. Is short, hope must be transformed into action.
