Harold Varmus, American Cell Biologist

For nearly four decades, Harold Eliot Varmus (b. 1939) has advanced fundamental scientific knowledge at the intersection of virology, oncology, and genetics, both as a researcher and as Director of NIH and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. With his long-time collaborator J. Michael Bishop, Varmus developed a new theory of the origin of cancer, which holds that the disease arises from mutations in certain of our own normal genes. These mutations are triggered by environmental carcinogens or by naturally occurring errors in the course of cell division and DNA replication. As an expert on retroviruses he chaired the scientific advisory committee that in 1986 proposed the name human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) for the etiologic agent of AIDS. In 1993 he became the first Nobel laureate to head NIH

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Aids Biologist Biology Cancer Eliot Environmental Genetics Immunodeficiency Institutes Kettering Laureate Mutations Oncology Replication Researcher Sloan Virus

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