Bio
Scott W. Atlas, M.D. is the Robert Wesson Senior Fellow in health policy at the Hoover Institution.
Dr. Atlas investigates the role of government and the private sector in health care quality and access, global trends in health care innovation, and the key economic and civil liberty issues related to health policy. During the 2008, 2012, and 2016 presidential campaigns, he was a senior advisor for health policy to a number of candidates for President of the United States. He has also advised several members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives and testified to Congress on health care reform. He served the nation from August to December, 2020 as a Special Advisor to the President and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. His most recent books include: A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America (Post Hill Press, 2021), Restoring Quality Health Care: A Six‐Point Plan for Comprehensive Reform at Lower Cost (Hoover Press, 2020, 2nd ed), In Excellent Health: Setting the Record Straight on America’s Health Care System (Hoover Press, 2011), and Reforming America’s Health Care System (Hoover Press, 2010). Dr. Atlas has participated on the World Bank’s Commission on Growth and Development. He has also advised leaders on health care and medical technology in several countries outside the US, including Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Dr. Atlas has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and approximately 200 policy pieces, and has been interviewed in a variety of media throughout the world.
Dr. Atlas is also the editor of the leading textbook in the field, Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain and Spine, now in its 5th edition and translated from English into Mandarin, Spanish, and Portuguese. He has been editor, associate editor, and a member of the boards of numerous scientific journals and scientific societies over the past three decades. His medical research centered on advanced applications of new MRI technologies in neurologic diseases. While Professor of Radiology and Chief of Neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center from 1998 until 2012 and during his previous faculty positions, Dr. Atlas trained over 100 neuroradiology fellows, many of whom are now leaders in the field throughout the world.
Dr. Atlas has received numerous awards and honors in recognition of his leadership in policy and medicine. He was awarded the 2022 Encounter Prize for Advancing American Ideals, explained as: “Standing up to injustice and facing down the madding crowd of conformity requires enormous patience, equilibrium, insight, and courage—the most important virtue, Aristotle observed, because without it none of the other virtues can flourish. The Encounter Prize for Advancing American Ideals pays tribute to individuals who effectively embody this rare combination of virtues in their lives and work.” He also received the 2021 Freedom Leadership Award, Hillsdale College’s highest honor, “in recognition of his dedication to individual freedom and the free society,” the 2021 Conservative Partnership Institute Freedom Fighter of the Year Award, CPI’s highest honor, "bestowed upon an individual for their courage and dedication to truth and liberty" and the 2011 Alumni Achievement Award, the highest career achievement honor for a distinguished alumnus from the University of Illinois in Urbana‐Champaign. He has been an ad hoc member of the Nominating Committee for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for several years. He was named by his peers in The Best Doctors in America every year since its initial publication, as well as in regional listings, such as The Best Doctors in New York and Silicon Valley's Best Doctors.
Dr. Atlas received a BS degree in biology from the University of Illinois in Urbana‐Champaign and an MD degree from the University of Chicago School of Medicine.
