Robert B. Cole, MD

Dr. Robert Cole is a physician, educator, and speaker whose work has focused on the intersection of serious illness, meaning, and the human experience of mortality. Born in 1952, he graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1975 and earned his medical degree from the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine in 1982. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1986 and became board certified in the specialty.

From 1986 to 2005, Dr. Cole practiced Obstetrics and Gynecology at John Muir Health, caring for women and families throughout the East Bay. His medical career took an unexpected turn when he developed advanced melanoma, a diagnosis that ultimately progressed to Stage IV disease. This experience profoundly shaped both his personal and professional life and led him to explore the psychological, existential, and spiritual dimensions of illness.

After leaving clinical practice, Dr. Cole served as Chief Medical Officer of AutoGenomics while pursuing treatment at the National Cancer Institute. Following unsuccessful experimental therapies, he enrolled in an early checkpoint immunotherapy trial in 2010 and subsequently achieved a durable remission.

Inspired by his experiences as both physician and patient, Dr. Cole returned to medicine as Associate Medical Director of Hospice of the East Bay, where he practiced hospice and palliative medicine for thirteen years. During this period, he also developed a counseling practice focused on helping individuals and families navigate the emotional and existential challenges associated with life-threatening illness, aging, grief, and end-of-life care.

Today, Dr. Cole is the founder of Transcendent Medicine, an innovative practice that integrates medicine, psychology, spirituality, and ketamine-assisted therapy. His work explores how encounters with illness, mortality, and uncertainty can become opportunities for growth, meaning, and transformation. Through clinical practice, teaching, and writing, he encourages patients and healthcare professionals alike to consider a fundamental question: not simply how we prepare for death, but how we might more fully live.