About
Dr. Marschall Runge
Marschall Runge has spent forty years in American medicine: treating patients as a cardiologist, running a molecular biology lab, and leading one of the country's largest academic health systems as dean and CEO.
"Medicine is not just a science and an art; it is also a business. It's about adapting—and fast. Those who aren't paying attention will be left behind."
The work, in one paragraph
His lab spent four decades on a single question: what makes blood vessels and the heart age, and how much of it can be slowed. Early work pointed to NADPH oxidase (NOX4) and mitochondrial DNA damage as drivers of atherosclerosis. Later work on Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) carried the same biology into fibrosis and hypertension. He now leads a Michigan cohort that pairs epigenetic aging clocks, mitochondrial inheritance, cardiorespiratory fitness, and chronic inflammation in one dataset. The working thesis: aging is a process you can negotiate with.
Training
PhD in cardiovascular molecular biology at Vanderbilt University. MD and internal-medicine residency at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Leadership
Executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan, dean of the medical school, and CEO of Michigan Medicine. Ten years in the job, during which the system grew its footprint in digital health, precision medicine, and aging research.
Writing
Author of The Great Healthcare Disruption (Forbes Books, 2025), a USA TODAY Best-Seller and Global Book Awards Gold Medal winner, and the techno-medical thriller Coded to Kill (Post Hill Press, 2023). A third nonfiction book on epigenetic clocks and biological aging is in development with Forbes Books and agent Thomas LeBien.
Public-facing work
Writes and speaks for non-specialist readers about the same biology the lab works on. Forthcoming: The Longevity Switch Substack and a Michigan MOOC on epigenetics and aging through the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation.
Where I Speak, Write, and Advise
Five subjects Dr. Runge speaks and writes on, each rooted in clinical or laboratory work and feeding into forthcoming projects: the Longevity Switch Substack, a Michigan MOOC on epigenetics and aging, and a third nonfiction book with Forbes Books.
Longevity & Healthy Aging
Mitochondrial dysfunction, epigenetic clocks, and the parts of healthspan you can actually move. Lead investigator on a multi-omic Michigan initiative linking cardiorespiratory fitness, methylation arrays, and maternal mtDNA inheritance.
"Aging is now understood as a complex biological process with multiple interconnected mechanisms. Under the new paradigm, what's been done might be undone."
Obesity Medication & GLP‑1s
What a generation of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is changing in primary care, endocrinology, and cardiometabolic risk, and what patients should and shouldn't expect from them.
AI in Medicine
Where AI is actually changing care delivery (diagnostic decision support, ambient documentation, algorithmic triage), where the hype runs ahead of the evidence, and what to ask before trusting any of it.
The Future of American Healthcare
Big Tech in care delivery, retail medicine, the restructuring of payers, and the policy choices that will decide who benefits. The thesis of The Great Healthcare Disruption.
Who to Trust With Your Health
Separating credible expertise from the influencer industrial complex. How to evaluate longevity claims and find guidance you can actually use, in an era saturated with biological reductionism dressed up as science.