2010 Commencement remarks by Harold E. Varmus, a co-recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering studies of the genetic basis of cancer, and the president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. (Video: 2 min., 30 sec.)
HAROLD E. VARMUS, Ph.D. Honorary Doctor of Science
Harold E. Varmus, former director of the National Institutes of Health and co-recipient of a Nobel Prize for studies of the genetic basis of cancer, has served as the president and chief executive officer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center since January 2000. President Obama recently announced the appointment of Dr. Varmus to serve as Director of the National Cancer Institute.
Much of Dr. Varmus’ scientific work was conducted during 23 years as a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, Medical School, where he and Dr. J. Michael Bishop and their co-workers demonstrated the cellular origins of the oncogene of a chicken retrovirus. This discovery led to the isolation of many cellular genes that normally control growth and development and are frequently mutated in human cancer. For this work, Bishop and Varmus received many awards, including the 1989 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
In 1993, Dr. Varmus was named by President Clinton to serve as the Director of the National Institutes of Health, a position he held until the end of 1999.
As the president and chief executive officer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Varmus has emphasized opportunities to harness recent advances in the biological sciences to improve the care of patients with cancer.
Dr. Varmus has authored over 300 scientific papers and five books, including an introduction to the genetic basis of cancer for a general audience and a memoir, The Art and Politics of Science. He has been an adviser to the federal government, pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, and many academic institutions, and was appointed by President Obama as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). He has received the National Medal of Science, the Vannevar Bush Award, and several honorary degrees and other prizes, in addition to the Nobel Prize.
Dr. Varmus majored in English literature at Amherst College and earned a master’s degree in English at Harvard University. He is a graduate of Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, worked as a medical student in a hospital in India, and served on the medical house staff at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. His scientific training occurred first as a Public Health Service officer at the National Institutes of Health, where he studied bacterial gene expression with Dr. Ira Pastan, and then as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Bishop at the University of California, San Francisco.
