American - Scientist | December 18, 1939 -
Just after graduation in 1966, like many of my contemporaries, I applied for research training at the National Institutes of Health. Perhaps because his wife was a poet, Ira Pastan agreed to take me into his laboratory, despite my lack of scientific credentials.
Harold E. Varmus
HealthWifeTrainingMeResearch
A major feature of life at the NIH in late 1960s was the extraordinary offering of evening courses for physicians attempting to become scientists as they neared thirty.
LifeEveningLateBecomeThirty
From some dilatory reading in the early 1960s, I knew enough about viruses and their association with tumors in animals to understand that they might provide a relatively simple entry into a problem as complex as cancer.
SimpleReadingProblemEnoughEarly
When I read about genetics, I see breakthroughs every day. And while I'm trying to learn more about behavioral science, I must say that I don't feel I get tremendous intellectual stimulation from most of the things I read.
ScienceDayFeelLearnTryingSay
I saw my friends in medical school seeming to be more engaged with the real world. That provoked a sort of jealousy, and I decided to go to medical school after all.
MedicalSchoolJealousyWorldGo
When I was the NIH director, I often expressed envy of institute directors: they had the money and ran the scientific programmes.
MoneyEnvyDirectorScientificOften
Cancer is a collection of many diseases with common principles, and each disease will have to be understood and more effectively controlled on its own terms.
PrinciplesWillMoreCancerOwn
The NCI scientific programme leaders meet regularly to ensure that we are not ignoring highly original proposals and that we are not creating an unbalanced grant portfolio.
CreatingMeetPortfolioOriginal
All basic scientists who look to the NCI for funding should know that I will tolerate no retreat on the study of model systems and the pursuit of fundamental biological principles.
LookKnowPrinciplesWillStudy
I'm used to being surrounded by really smart 22-year-old students who have no problem saying that something I suggested is not a very good idea.
GoodSmartSayingProblemSomething
Our biggest single theme is trying to make the NIH work better with the same amount of money.
WorkMoneyBetterTryingSameTheme
When high school students ask to spend their afternoons and weekends in my laboratory, I am amazed: I didn't develop that kind of enthusiasm for science until I was 28 years old.
ScienceSchoolI AmHigh SchoolKind
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