I begin with the premise that behavior is an incredibly important element in medicine. Peoples habits, their willingness to quit smoking, their willingness to take steps to avoid transmission of HIV, are all behavioral questions.

A cancer is not simply a lung cancer. It doesn't simply have a certain kind of appearance under the microscope or a certain behavior, but it also has a set of changes in the genes or in the molecules that modify gene behavior that allows us to categorize cancers in ways that is very useful in thinking about new ways to control cancer by prevention and treatment.

Science can improve lives in ways that are elegant in design and moving in practice.

I keep encouraging the pharmaceutical companies to put more money into R&D.

Following graduation from Amherst, a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship enabled me to test the depth of my interest in literary scholarship by beginning graduate studies at Harvard University.

I had learned that science is a rewarding, active process of discovery, not the passive absorption of what others had discovered.

Tobacco, UV rays, viruses, heredity, and age are the main causes of cancer.