Oral history interview with Harold E. Varmus, 2021
Abstract
Harold Varmus discusses his career in science and science policy and administration, with particular focus on his service in the Obama administration as co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) from 2009 to 2010, and director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from 2010 to 2015. Varmus outlines the Obama administration's policy priorities and approach to science policy, describes the structure and activities of PCAST, and provides details about the major programs and initiatives with which he was closely involved, including the administration's response to the H1N1 pandemic, the Precision Medicine Initiative, and the inclusion of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Varmus also focuses on the importance of personal relationships among principals to the facilitation of interagency coordination, and he recounts efforts at collaboration with other federal agencies with mandates for science, health, and energy technology. Also discussed are Obama's enthusiasm for science, Varmus' role as chair of the Obama 2008 campaign's science and technology committee, the Science Envoy program, NCI's Provocative Questions initiative, and Varmus' commitment to open science, including the creation of PubMed Central and the Public Library of Science (PLOS), and efforts to expand requirements for open-access publication of publicly-funded research during the years of the Obama presidency
Presidents--United States; H1N1 influenza--United States; Varmus, Harold; Obama, Barack; President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (U.S.); National Cancer Institute (U.S.); Precision Medicine Initiative; National Institutes of Health (U.S.); Public Library of Science; National Institutes of Health (U.S.) PubMed Central; United States. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
57 pages
Note (Biographical)
Harold Varmus is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist for his work with Michael Bishop discovering the progenitors of viral oncogenes that drive numerous human cancers. From 1993 to 1999, he served as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) . From 2000 to 2010, he was the president and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. During the Obama administration, Varmus was one of the co-chairs of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). He resigned from this post to serve as the director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from 2010 to 2015
Note
Interviewed by Peter Bearman on January 28, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Harold E. Varmus, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2022