If somebody is working on a new medicine, computer science helps us model those things. We have a whole group here in Seattle called the Institute for Disease Modelling that is a mix of computer science and math-type people, and the progress we're making in polio or plans for malaria or really driven by their deep insights.

We win because we hire the smartest people. We improve our products based on feedback, until they're the best. We have retreats each year where we think about where the world is heading.

There is a certain responsibility that accrued to me when I got to this unexpected position.

Vaccines are a miracle; they're fantastic. Anything that makes people hesitate to give their children these vaccines according to the recommended schedule creates risk. Risk for the children who don't get vaccinated and risk for children, some of whom don't have an immune system, so they're benefiting from the fact that the community protection means the disease doesn't get to them.

The human body is the most complex system ever created. The more we learn about it, the more appreciation we have about what a rich system it is.

I'm quite worried about the fiscal imbalances that we've got and what that might mean in terms of financial crisis ahead.

If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.