Euan Ashley Named New Department of Medicine Chair

July 9, 2024 

Euan Ashley, MB ChB, DPhil, has been named chair of the Department of Medicine effective September 18, 2024. Ashley is the Roger and Joelle Burnell Professor of Genomics and Precision Health and a professor of cardiovascular medicine, genetics, and biomedical data science at Stanford. 

Ashley was born in Scotland and pursued his medical education at the University of Glasgow. He subsequently completed his medical residency and fellowship, as well as a doctorate (DPhil) in molecular cardiology, at the University of Oxford in England. He then moved to California for a cardiology fellowship at Stanford University. He stayed on to join the Stanford faculty in 2006.

Over the past 18 years at Stanford Medicine, Ashley has been a visionary leader. In 2010, he founded the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease, the first to bring specialized heart genetics experts together to provide coordinated care for people with genetic disorders of the heart and blood vessels. He is a director of Catalyst, a Stanford Medicine program that supports inventors in developing and accelerating innovations with the potential to transform health. He also leads the Ashley Lab, which studies precision medicine, with a particular focus on the heart, the human genome, digital health, and AI. He has more than 350 peer-reviewed articles published in peer-reviewed journals, and his scholarship has been foundational in the field of medical genomics. 

Ashley’s own innovations include leading the first team to analyze and interpret a complete human genome in 2009 and, in 2021, leading a team that sequenced a full human genome in just over five hours, which set a Guinness World Record. Human genome sequencing can aid physicians in making diagnoses and treatment plans, including in critical conditions where speed is of the essence. 

Ashley maintains an active clinical practice, and treats patients with a wide array of concerns, from inherited cardiovascular diseases to heart failure and rare and undiagnosed diseases. He is also known as a strong mentor. 

“Beyond his prolific research and active clinical presence, Dr. Ashley has proven to be an outstanding leader in aiding the development of others. Trainees and colleagues consistently praise his genuine interest in empowering them along their career journeys, and countless of those who have benefited from his guidance have taken big strides along their own leadership paths at Stanford and peer institutions,” said Stanford School of Medicine Dean Lloyd Minor, MD, in announcing Ashley’s appointment.

Among his many honors, Ashley is a 2023 recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, which recognizes exceptional scholars across the arts and sciences who have demonstrated outstanding work and continued promise in their field.