Anyone graduating from medical school in 1966 had first to fulfill military service before launching a career. Fiercely opposed to the Vietnam War, I sought to avoid it through an assignment to the Public Health Service.

There are three great themes in science in the twentieth century : the atom, the computer, and the gene.

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.

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

Our biggest single theme is trying to make the NIH work better with the same amount of money.

Every cancer looks different. Every cancer has similarities to other cancers. And were trying to milk those differences and similarities to do a better job of predicting how things are going to work out and making new drugs.

In general, all cancers have been traditionally characterized by the way they appear under the microscope and the organs in which they arise.