There are three great themes in science in the twentieth century : the atom, the computer, and the gene. Harold E. Varmus More Quotes by Harold E. Varmus More Quotes From Harold E. Varmus Tobacco, UV rays, viruses, heredity, and age are the main causes of cancer. Harold E. Varmus cancer rays age Every cancer looks different. Every cancer has similarities to other cancers. And were trying to milk those differences and similarities to do a better job of predicting how things are going to work out and making new drugs. Harold E. Varmus cancer differences jobs Science can improve lives in ways that are elegant in design and moving in practice. Harold E. Varmus design practice moving A cancer is not simply a lung cancer. It doesn't simply have a certain kind of appearance under the microscope or a certain behavior, but it also has a set of changes in the genes or in the molecules that modify gene behavior that allows us to categorize cancers in ways that is very useful in thinking about new ways to control cancer by prevention and treatment. Harold E. Varmus cancer way thinking I had learned of Gertrude Steins bon mot that medicine opened all doors. This prompted me, in different moods, to view my future life as literary psychiatrist, globe-trotting tropical disease specialist, or academic internist. Harold E. Varmus medicine views doors I keep encouraging the pharmaceutical companies to put more money into R&D. Harold E. Varmus pharmaceutical-companies more-money company 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. Harold E. Varmus principles fundamentals looks I had learned that science is a rewarding, active process of discovery, not the passive absorption of what others had discovered. Harold E. Varmus passive process discovery Following graduation from Amherst, a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship enabled me to test the depth of my interest in literary scholarship by beginning graduate studies at Harvard University. Harold E. Varmus fellowship tests depth Our biggest single theme is trying to make the NIH work better with the same amount of money. Harold E. Varmus amount theme trying In general, all cancers have been traditionally characterized by the way they appear under the microscope and the organs in which they arise. Harold E. Varmus microscopes cancer way My ideal summer day was reading on the porch. Harold E. Varmus porch reading summer Anyone graduating from medical school in 1966 had first to fulfill military service before launching a career. Fiercely opposed to the Vietnam War, I sought to avoid it through an assignment to the Public Health Service. Harold E. Varmus military war school I begin with the premise that behavior is an incredibly important element in medicine. Peoples habits, their willingness to quit smoking, their willingness to take steps to avoid transmission of HIV, are all behavioral questions. Harold E. Varmus medicine important smoking In preparation for a career in academic medicine, I worked as a medical house officer at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital from 1966 to 1968 and then joined Ira Pastan's laboratory at the National Institutes of Health as a Clinical Associate. Harold E. Varmus hospital medical health preparation 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 me wife health research I was born in the shadow of World War II, on December 18, 1939, on the South Shore of Long Island, a product of the early -wentieth-century emigration of Eastern European Jewry to New York City and its environs. Harold E. Varmus city shadow war long The public schools I attended were dominated by athletics and rarely inspiring intellectually, but I enjoyed a small circle of interesting friends despite my ineptitude at team sports and my preference for reading. Harold E. Varmus friends team reading sports As an undergraduate at Amherst College, I was devoted to Dickensian novels and antiestablishment journalism while marginally fulfilling premedical requirements. Harold E. Varmus devoted fulfilling journalism college 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. Harold E. Varmus extraordinary evening late life
