Harold E. Varmus

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Harold E. Varmus bigraphy, stories - American scientist

Harold E. Varmus : biography

December 18, 1939 –

Harold Elliot Varmus (born December 18, 1939) is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist and the 14th and current Director of the National Cancer Institute, a post he was appointed to by President Barack Obama.President Obama to Appoint Harold E. Varmus, M.D., to Lead National Cancer Institute, http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director-announced?cid=B_ND He was a co-recipient (along with J. Michael Bishop) of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes.

He also serves as one of three co-Chairs of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Awards And Nominations

Double Helix Medal

  • 2011:

Books

Biography

Les Prix Nobel. Wired Magazine

From 1993 to 1999, he served as Director of the National Institutes of Health. As the NIH director, Varmus was credited with nearly doubling the research agency’s budget. From 2000 to 2010, he was President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He received $2,557,403 salary/compensation from the charity, which is the most money given by any charity to the head of that charity, according to Charity Watch.Charity Rating Guide and Watchdog Report, Volume Number 59, December 2011 He was also the Chairman of the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. From 2002 to 2005, he served as a trustee of Columbia University.

On January 12, 2010, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center announced that Varmus "has asked the MSKCC Boards of Overseers and Managers to begin a search for his successor." The announcement also stated, "Varmus indicated that he plans to continue in his present position until a successor has been identified, and he will remain the head of his laboratory in the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program at the Sloan-Kettering Institute and an active member of the teaching faculty."

On May 18, 2010, Varmus was nominated to be the director of the National Cancer Institute, and he began his tenure as NCI director on July 12, 2010.

Beginning during his tenure as NIH director, Varmus has been a champion of an open access system for scientific papers, arguing that scientists should have control over the dissemination of their research rather than journal editors. He has advocated a system in which journals make their articles freely available on PubMed Central six months after publication. He was a co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Public Library of Science, a not-for-profit open access publisher, and he also sits on the board of trustees of BioMed Central, a publisher of open-access journals. He currently serves on the advisory boards of the Campaign to Defend the Constitution, an organization dedicated to opposing the religious right, and Scientists and Engineers for America, an organization focused on promoting sound science in American government.

He is also a 2001 recipient of the National Medal of Science, served on the board of the Science Initiative Group and received an honorary degree in 2010 from the University of Massachusetts Medical School.. Umassmed.edu (2008-01-24). Retrieved on 2012-02-17.

Personal life

Varmus is an avid bicyclist and an Advisory Committee member of Transportation Alternatives the New York City-based advocacy group for pedestrians and cyclists. He is also a runner, rower, and fisherman. He has been married to Constance Louise Casey since 1969, and has two sons, Jacob and Christopher. His brother-in-law is novelist John Casey. Varmus and his son, Jacob, a trumpet player, have performed a series of concerts entitled "Genes and Jazz" at the Guggenheim and the Smithsonian.

Politics

Varmus endorsed then-United States Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) for the 2008 presidential election.Nicholas Thompson: February 03, 2008 He has been selected as one of co-chairs of the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to serve in the Obama administration. He is member of the Council on Foreign Relations.. Cfr.org. Retrieved on 2012-02-17.