Dr Harold Varmus tapped to lead US National Cancer Institute
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
US President Barack Obama has appointed former National Institutes of Health director Dr Harold Varmus to lead the National Cancer Institute. Dr Varmus headed the NIH from 1993 to 1999 under former President Bill Clinton. Since January 2000 he has served as president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Last year he was appointed co-chair of Mr Obama's council of advisors on science and technology. He also chairs the global health advisory committee at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is a former Nobel Prize co-recipient for studies of the genetic basis of cancer.