VARMUS, HAROLD ELIOT

VARMUS, HAROLD ELIOT (1939– ), U.S. microbiologist and Nobel laureate. He was born in Freeport, New York to Beatrice Barasch and Frank Varmus, and graduated with a B.A. from Amherst College, an M.A. in literary studies from Harvard University, and an M.D. from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons (1966). After clinical training at Presbyterian Hospital, New York (1966–68), he received his research training with Ira Pastan at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda (1966–68) where he became interested in basic research. He then joined the department of microbiology of the University of California, San Francisco (1970–93) becoming professor (1979–83) and American Cancer Society Professor of Molecular Virology (1984–93). He returned to NIH as director (1993–99) before his appointment as president of Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center, New York, from 2000. His early interest in gene regulation started at NIH. In San Francisco he and his colleagues studied the relationships between retroviral and cellular genes. They discovered that oncogenic (cancer-causing) viruses contain altered versions of growth regulating genes found in normal cells; mutation or inappropriate activation of these normal genes, now known as proto-oncogenes, was proposed to be an important step in malignant transformation even in the absence of viral infection and as the result of other factors. These observations fundamentally influenced the subsequent direction of cancer research. For these discoveries he received the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine (1989), jointly with his close collaborator Michael Bishop. His subsequent research interests have included retroviruses, hepatitis B viruses, and the development of drugs that inhibit enzymes on which the growth of cancer cells is dependent. His honors include election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1984) and the American College of Arts and Sciences (1988), the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1982) and the Gairdner Award (1984) (both with Michael Bishop), and the National Medal of Science (2001). Varmus was an influential adviser to many academic, national, biotechnology, and international organizations including WHO, concerned with health and scientific education in the developed world and Third World. His highly regarded books on science include Genes and the Biology of Cancer 1992 (with Robert Weinberg) written for general readers. Varmus has retained his passion for literature and the arts, and also for outdoor pursuits. (Michael Denman (2nd ed.)