Harold Varmus, President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering

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Avice Meehan
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Dr. Harold Varmus, NIH Director and Nobel Laureate,
Named President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering

NEW YORK, October 7, 1999 - Dr. Harold E. Varmus, Director of the National Institutes of Health and co-recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, will be the next President and Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Douglas A. Warner III, Chairman of the Boards of Overseers and Managers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, made the announcement.

Effective January 2000, Dr. Varmus will succeed Dr. Paul A. Marks. Dr. Marks has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since 1980 and announced his plans to step down late last year.

"Harold Varmus combines an extraordinary understanding of the biology of cancer and sensitivity to the clinical needs of cancer patients with the vision to take our great institution into the next century," said Mr. Warner.

"Dr. Varmus has a strong appreciation for Memorial Sloan-Kettering's three-pronged focus on research, education, and patient care and is a gifted leader," Mr. Warner continued. "We are very pleased that he will continue his 30-year commitment to the control and cure of cancer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering."

Dr. Varmus, 59, has been director of the National Institutes of Health for the past six years.

Working effectively with both the Executive Branch and members of Congress during his six-year tenure as NIH Director, Dr. Varmus made a strong and successful case for increasing the nation's investment in basic and clinical research. Under his leadership, the NIH budget grew to $16 billion in 1999 from less than $11 billion. The NIH, one of the world's leading centers for biomedical research, includes 25 different institutes and centers, among them the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Varmus also gained praise for his quick grasp of the complex issues facing the vast research enterprise and for moving to restructure several essential areas, including intramural research. His attention has increasingly focused on the potential applications of new technology in biomedical research. Most recently, Dr. Varmus unveiled a plan for creating an electronic archive called PubMed Central that would provide free and immediate access to scientific literature.

As a scientist, Dr. Varmus has long been interested in the genetic basis of cancer - specifically retroviruses and their ability to cause genetic change, as well as several genes involved in the development of cancer. Dr. Varmus and his collaborator, J. Michael Bishop, M.D., earned the 1989 Nobel Prize for their work demonstrating that retroviral oncogenes are derived from normal cellular genes, some of which play a pivotal role in the cell by controlling growth and division. A mutation in an oncogene may lead to the uncontrolled growth characteristic of cancer.

In addition to the Nobel, both he and Dr. Bishop have shared major honors for their work. These include the Albert Lasker Basic Science Award (1982), the Passano Foundation Award (1983), the Alfred P. Sloan Prize from the General Motors Cancer Foundation (1984) and the Gairdner Foundation International Award (1984).

Dr. Varmus spent much of his career at the University of California at San Francisco, beginning in 1970 when he joined the Bishop lab as a postdoctoral fellow. He achieved the rank of full professor in 1979. A 1961 graduate of Amherst College, Dr. Varmus earned a master's degree at Harvard University and his medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr. Varmus and his wife, Constance Casey, have two sons who live in New York City. Casey, a graduate of Barnard College, is a national correspondent for the Newhouse News Service.

Dr. Marks, who plans to continue his work in cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, said: "Serving Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has been exciting and rewarding, and I am grateful to all of my colleagues for the opportunity. I am extremely pleased that Harold Varmus, one of America's most distinguished academics, biomedical scientists and healthcare leaders, will succeed me."

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is the world's oldest and largest private institution devoted to prevention, patient care, research and education in cancer. Throughout its long and distinguished history, the Center has played a leadership role in defining the standard of care for persons with cancer and for expanding our knowledge of the biology of cancer. In 1999, for the seventh year in a row, Memorial Sloan-Kettering was named the nation's best cancer center by U.S. News & World Report.

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