When Harold E. Varmus was appointed director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in November, 1993, he was already famous throughout the world for his investigations into cancer-causing genes and other fundamental areas of biology, including the complex mechanisms of viruses. Varmus, who helped prove that there is a genetic component to cancer, was the co-recipient of a 1989 Nobel Prize for his research into oncogenes (genes with the capacity to turn normal cells into cancerous ones). Varmus' title of director of the NIH carries with it immense responsibilities, including the managing of a ten billion-dollar-plus NIH budget and the determination of grant awards for many types of medical research.

Harold Eliot Varmus was born in Oceanside, New York, to Frank and Beatrice (Barasch) Varmus. He attended Amherst College, graduating with a B.A. degree in 1961 (twenty-three years later, Amherst would award him with an honorary doctorate). Varmus went...