If writers and physician-scientists have one thing in common, it’s the tendency to follow an idea wherever it may lead.

Case in point: Marschall Runge ’84. As executive vice president for medical affairs, CEO of Michigan Medicine and dean of the University of Michigan Medical School, he’s helped shape the future of academic medicine. As a cardiologist, he solves medical mysteries for his patients. And as the author of the recent medical thriller Coded to Kill, about what can go wrong if electronic medical records are misused, he’s applied his insider knowledge to good old-fashioned storytelling.

Runge’s illustrious career is now at a turning point. After 10 years at the helm in Michigan, he’s stepping down in June 2025. Under his leadership, philanthropic gifts more than doubled, and the medical system grew from a $3.5 billion to an $8.5 billion operation. The medical school saw continual growth in applications and NIH grants, and the curriculum expanded to include machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Runge was drawn to Michigan because he appreciates the role of public medical schools and the egalitarian spirit he first found at Johns Hopkins.

“Victor McKusick was at the peak of his career yet still spent time with medical students and residents. Daniel Nathans and Hamilton Smith had won the Nobel Prize a few years before, and they were our lab instructors, if you can imagine,” he says. “Though world famous, they took their role as educators very seriously. That’s part of the magic of Hopkins.”

Post-retirement, Runge plans to stay on the cardiology faculty, travel and volunteer in public health. He’s already working on his next mystery novel (about the quest to reverse the aging process) and on a book for Forbes, called The Great Healthcare Disruption: Big Tech, Bold Policy, and the Future of American Medicine, due out in June 2025.

“I’m excited for this next chapter. But for the first two weeks,” he laughs, “I just want to sleep.”