View source for Biography:Harold E. Varmus

{{short description|American scientist (born 1939)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|image             = National Cancer Institute director Harold E. Varmus (3) (cropped).jpg
|caption           = Varmus in 2009
|office            = 14th Director of the [[Organization:National Cancer Institute|National Cancer Institute]]
|term_start        = 2010
|term_end          = 2015
|president         = [[Biography:Barack Obama|Barack Obama]]
|predecessor       = John E. Niederhuber
|successor         = Douglas R. Lowy (Acting)<br>Norman Sharpless
|order1             = 14th
|title1             = Director of the National Institutes of Health
|term_start1        = November 23, 1993
|term_end1          = December 31, 1999
|president1         = Bill Clinton
|predecessor1       = Bernadine Healy
|successor1         = Elias Zerhouni
|birth_name        = Harold Eliot Varmus
|birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1939|12|18}}
|birth_place       = Oceanside, New York, US
|death_date        = 
|death_place       = 
|spouse            = {{marriage|Constance Louise Casey|1969}}
|children          = 2
|module            = 
  {{Infobox scientist | embed=yes
  | workplaces = {{Plainlist|
* [[Organization:University of California, San Francisco|University of California, San Francisco]]
* [[Organization:National Institutes of Health|National Institutes of Health]]
* Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
* [[Organization:National Cancer Institute|National Cancer Institute]]
* Weill Cornell Medicine
* Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
}}
  |alma_mater  = {{Plainlist|
* [[Organization:Amherst College|Amherst College]] (BA)
* [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]] (MA)
* [[Organization:Columbia University|Columbia University]] ([[Medicine:Doctor of Medicine|MD]])}} 
  |doctoral_students = Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo<ref>{{cite web|date=July 2022|title=A Conversation With Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, JAMA's New Editor in Chief|publisher=JAMA Network|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxvV01TmE88}} (conversation with Harold Varmus)</ref> <br> Tyler Jacks<ref>{{cite web|title=Tyler Jacks|website=The Jacks Lab, Koch Institute for Integrative Research Cancer Research at MIT|url=https://jacks-lab.mit.edu/people/tyler_jacks}}</ref>
  |known_for   = {{Plainlist|
* [[Biology:Retrovirus|Retroviral]] [[Biology:Oncogene|oncogene]]s
* PLOS
}}
  |field       = Cancer biology
  |prizes      = {{Plainlist|
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine {{small|(1989)}}
* [[Organization:Vannevar Bush Award|Vannevar Bush Award]] {{small|(2001)}}}}
  }}
}}

'''Harold Eliot Varmus''' (born December 18, 1939) is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist. He is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a senior associate at the [[Biology:New York Genome Center|New York Genome Center]].

He was a co-recipient (along with [[Biography:J. Michael Bishop|J. Michael Bishop]]) of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery of the [[Biology:Cell|cellular]] origin of [[Biology:Retrovirus|retroviral]] [[Biology:Oncogene|oncogene]]s. He was also the director of the [[Organization:National Institutes of Health|National Institutes of Health]] from 1993 to 1999 and the 14th Director of the [[Organization:National Cancer Institute|National Cancer Institute]] from 2010 to 2015, a post to which he was appointed by President [[Biography:Barack Obama|Barack Obama]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director-announced?cid=B_ND|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527085250/http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director-announced?cid=B_ND|title=President Obama to Appoint Harold Varmus, M.D.|publisher=National Cancer Institute|archive-date=May 27, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/nih-almanac/nih-directors | title=NIH Directors| date=2015-02-11}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Varmus was born on December 18, 1939, to Beatrice, a social service worker, and Frank Varmus, a physician, Jewish parents of Eastern European descent, in Oceanside, New York.<ref name=Nobel>''Les Prix Nobel.'' The Nobel Prizes 1989, Editor Tore Frängsmyr, Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 1990.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director/biography|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104202421/http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director/biography|title=Biography|archive-date=January 4, 2014|publisher=National Cancer Institute|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="NIH profiles">{{cite web | title=Biographical Overview-Harold Varmus |website=NIH |date=12 March 2019 |url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/mv/feature/biographical-overview |access-date=August 12, 2023}}</ref> In 1957, he graduated from Freeport High School in Freeport, New York, and enrolled at [[Organization:Amherst College|Amherst College]], intending to follow in his father's footsteps as a medical doctor, but eventually graduating with a B.A. in English literature.<ref name=Nobel /> He went on to earn an M.A. in English at [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]] in 1962, before changing his mind once again and applying to medical schools.<ref name="NIH profiles" /><ref name=Wired>Jamie Shreeve. [https://www.wired.com/2006/06/varmus/ "Free Radical"]. ''Wired Magazine''. June 2006. Issue 14.06.</ref> He was twice rejected from Harvard Medical School. That same year, he entered the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and later worked at a missionary hospital in Bareilly, {{wipe|India}}, and the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.<ref name=Nobel /> As an alternative to serving militarily in the Vietnam War, Varmus joined the Public Health Service at the [[Organization:National Institutes of Health|National Institutes of Health]] in 1968.<ref name=Wired /> Working under Ira Pastan, he researched the regulation of [[Biology:Bacteria|bacteria]]l gene expression by cyclic AMP. In 1970, he began postdoctoral research in Bishop's lab at [[Organization:University of California, San Francisco|University of California, San Francisco]].<ref name=Nobel /><ref name="NIH profiles" />

== Scientific career and research accomplishments ==
To fulfill his national service obligations during the Vietnam War, Varmus became a member of the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service, working as a Clinical Associate in the laboratory of Ira Pastan at the [[Organization:National Institutes of Health|National Institutes of Health]] from 1968 to 1970. During this first period of laboratory research, he and Pastan and their colleagues described aspects of the mechanism by which the lac operon of E. coli is regulated transcriptionally by cyclic AMP.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Varmus | first1 = H.E. | last2 = Perlman | first2 = R.L. | last3 = Pastan | first3 = I. | year = 1970 | title = Regulation of lac messenger ribonucleic acid synthesis by cyclic adenosine 3'-5' monophosphate and glucose | journal = J. Biol. Chem. | volume = 245 | issue = 9| pages = 2259–67 | doi = 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)63147-3 | pmid = 4315149 | doi-access = free }}</ref> In 1970, he and his wife, Constance Casey, moved to San Francisco, where he began post-doctoral studies with [[Biography:J. Michael Bishop|Michael Bishop]] at [[Organization:University of California, San Francisco|University of California, San Francisco]] under a fellowship from the California Division of the American Cancer Society.<ref name="Beil">{{Cite journal |first1=Laura    |last1=Beil |title=From academics to access, Harold Varmus reflects on the achievements and challenges in cancer research |url= https://knowablemagazine.org/article/health-disease/2017/academics-access-harold-varmus-reflects-achievements-and-challenges |journal=Knowable Magazine |date= November 17, 2017 |doi=10.1146/knowable-112017-160500 | doi-access=free}}</ref> Appointed as an assistant professor in the UCSF Department of Microbiology and Immunology in 1972, he was promoted to professor in 1979 and became an American Cancer Society Research Professor in 1984.

During the course of his years at UCSF (1970 to 1993), Varmus's scientific work was focused principally on the mechanisms by which [[Biology:Retrovirus|retrovirus]]es replicate, cause [[Medicine:Cancer|cancer]]s in animals, and produce cancer-like changes in cultured cells. Much of this work was conducted jointly with Michael Bishop in a notably long scientific partnership. Their best-known accomplishment<ref>{{Cite journal|last1 = Stehelin|first1 = D.|last2 = Varmus|first2 = H. E.|last3 = Bishop|first3 = J. M.|last4 = Vogt|first4 = P. K.|date = 1976-03-11|title = DNA related to the transforming gene(s) of avian sarcoma viruses is present in normal avian DNA|journal = Nature|language = en|volume = 260|issue = 5547|pages = 170–173|doi = 10.1038/260170a0|pmid = 176594|bibcode = 1976Natur.260..170S|s2cid = 4178400}}</ref> was the identification of a cellular gene (c-Src) that gave rise to the [[Biology:V-Src|v-Src]] [[Biology:Oncogene|oncogene]] of [[Biology:Rous sarcoma virus|Rous sarcoma virus]], a cancer-causing virus first isolated from a chicken [[Medicine:Sarcoma|sarcoma]] by Peyton Rous in 1910.  Their discovery triggered the identification of many other cellular proto-oncogenes—progenitors of viral oncogenes and targets for mutations that drive human cancers.  Much of this work and its consequences are described in his Nobel lecture<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=1682&view=36|title=Nobel Lecture by Harold E. Varmus – Media Player at Nobelprize.org|website=www.nobelprize.org|access-date=2016-03-09}}</ref> and Bishop's,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=1680&view=2|title=Nobel Lecture by J. Michael Bishop – Media Player at Nobelprize.org|website=www.nobelprize.org|access-date=2016-03-09}}</ref> in Varmus's book ''The Art and Politics of Science'',<ref name="Beil"/> and in numerous histories of cancer research.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer|last=Mukherjee|first=S.|publisher=Scribner|year=2010|location=New York|pages=360–380}}</ref><ref name="Transform">{{cite journal |last1=Varmus |first1=Harold |title=How Tumor Virology Evolved into Cancer Biology and Transformed Oncology |journal=Annual Review of Cancer Biology |date=2017-03-06 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1146/annurev-cancerbio-050216-034315 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Other significant components of Varmus's scientific work over the past four and a half decades include descriptions of the mechanisms by which retroviral DNA is synthesized and integrated into chromosomes;<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Varmus|first=H.|date=1988-06-10|title=Retroviruses|journal=Science|language=en|volume=240|issue=4858|pages=1427–1435|doi=10.1126/science.3287617|issn=0036-8075|pmid=3287617|bibcode=1988Sci...240.1427V}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=P. O.|last2=Bowerman|first2=B.|last3=Varmus|first3=H. E.|last4=Bishop|first4=J. M.|date=1987-05-08|title=Correct integration of retroviral DNA in vitro|journal=Cell|volume=49|issue=3|pages=347–356|issn=0092-8674|pmid=3032450|doi=10.1016/0092-8674(87)90287-x|s2cid=35523639}}</ref> discovery of the Proto-oncogene Wnt-1 with [[Biography:Roel Nusse|Roel Nusse]];<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nusse|first1=R.|last2=Varmus|first2=H. E.|date=1982-11-01|title=Many tumors induced by the mouse mammary tumor virus contain a provirus integrated in the same region of the host genome|journal=Cell|volume=31|issue=1|pages=99–109|issn=0092-8674|pmid=6297757|doi=10.1016/0092-8674(82)90409-3|s2cid=46024617}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nusse|first1=Roel|last2=Varmus|first2=Harold|date=2012-06-13|title=Three decades of Wnts: a personal perspective on how a scientific field developed|journal=The EMBO Journal|language=en|volume=31|issue=12|pages=2670–2684|doi=10.1038/emboj.2012.146|pmc=3380217|pmid=22617420}}</ref> elucidation of aspects of the replication cycle of [[Biology:Hepatitis B virus|hepatitis B virus]] (with Donald Ganem<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1126/science.3961490 | pmid=3961490 | volume=232 | issue=4749 | title=Biochemical and genetic evidence for the hepatitis B virus replication strategy | journal=Science | pages=477–484| year=1986 | last1=Seeger | first1=C. | last2=Ganem | first2=D. | last3=Varmus | first3=H. | bibcode=1986Sci...232..477S }}</ref>); discovery of ribosomal frameshifting to make retroviral proteins (with Tyler Jacks<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Jacks | first1 = T. | last2 = Varmus | first2 = H.E. | year = 1985 | title = Expression of the Rous sarcoma virus pol gene by ribosomal frameshifting | journal = Science | volume = 230 | issue = 4731| pages = 1237–42 | doi = 10.1126/science.2416054 | pmid = 2416054 | bibcode = 1985Sci...230.1237J }}</ref>); isolation of a cellular receptor for avian retroviruses (with John Young and Paul Bates<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=8402880 | volume=74 | issue=6 | title=A receptor for subgroup A Rous sarcoma virus is related to the low density lipoprotein receptor | year=1993 | journal=Cell | pages=1043–51 | last1 = Bates | first1 = P | last2 = Young | first2 = JA | last3 = Varmus | first3 = HE | doi=10.1016/0092-8674(93)90726-7| s2cid=10787640 }}</ref>); characterization of mutations of the [[Biology:Epidermal growth factor receptor|epidermal growth factor receptor]] gene in human lung cancers, including a common mutation that confers drug resistance (with William Pao<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Pao | first1 = W. | last2 = Miller | first2 = V. | last3 = Zakowski | first3 = M. | last4 = Doherty | first4 = J. | last5 = Politi | first5 = K. | last6 = Sarkaria | first6 = I. | last7 = Singh | first7 = B. | last8 = Heelan | first8 = B. | last9 = Rusch | first9 = V. | last10 = Fulton | first10 = L. | last11 = Mardis | first11 = E. | last12 = Kupfer | first12 = D | last13 = Wilson | first13 = R. | last14 = Kris | first14 = M. | last15 = Varmus | title = never smokers" and are associated with sensitivity of tumors to gefitinib and erlotinib | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 101 | issue = 36 | pages = 13306–11| year = 2004 | doi=10.1073/pnas.0405220101 | pmid=15329413 | pmc=516528| doi-access = free }}</ref>); and generation of numerous mouse models of human cancer.  Notably, Varmus continued to conduct or direct laboratory work throughout his service in leadership positions at the NIH, MSKCC, and NCI.

== Politics and government service ==
In the early 1990s, following the award of their Nobel Prize, Varmus and Bishop became active in the politics of science, working principally with UCSF colleagues Bruce Alberts and Marc Kirschner, and with the Joint Steering Committee (later renamed the Coalition for the Life Sciences).<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bishop | first1 = J.M. | last2 = Kirschner | first2 = M. | last3 = Varmus | first3 = H.E. | year = 1993 | title = Policy Forum: Science and the New Administration | journal = Science | volume = 259 | issue = 5094| pages = 444–445 | doi=10.1126/science.8424162| pmid = 8424162 }}</ref> He also co-chaired Scientists and Engineers for Clinton-Gore during the 1992 presidential campaign.

=== National Institutes of Health directorship ===
[[File:National Cancer Institute director Harold E. Varmus (2).jpg|thumb|Varmus in 2009]]
After the resignation of NIH Director Bernadine Healy in April, 1993, Varmus was nominated for the post by President William J. Clinton in July, and confirmed by the Senate in November. As the NIH director, Varmus was credited with helping to nearly double the research agency's budget; but his tenure was also noted for appointments of outstanding scientists to serve as Institute Directors; for excellent relationships with members of Congress and the Administration; for leadership on clinical and AIDS research; for policy statements about stem cell research, cloning of organisms, gene therapy, and patenting; for promoting global health research, especially on malaria; and for construction of new facilities, including a new Clinical Center and a Vaccine Research Center at the NIH.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Art and Politics of Science.|last=Varmus|first=Harold|publisher=W.W. Norton|year=2009|pages=140–196}}</ref>

=== Between directorships ===
Varmus supported the presidential candidacies of Al Gore (2000) and John Kerry (2004). During the George W. Bush presidency, he gave lectures critical of the Administration's science policies.<ref>{{Cite book|title=AAAS Bulletin|last=Varmus|first=Harold|year=2006|pages=6–11, Vol. LIX, No.4}}</ref> But he has also written a laudatory account of PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief), Bush's initiative to combat AIDS globally.<ref>Varmus, H. Making PEPFAR: A Triumph of Medical Diplomacy. ''Science & Diplomacy'' 2(4) December, 2013.</ref>

Varmus declared his support for Barack Obama's quest for the presidency early in 2008<ref>Nicholas Thompson: Harold Varmus Endorses Obama, ''Wired'', February 03, 2008</ref> and chaired the campaign's Science and Technology Committee. Following Obama's election, he was named by the president-elect as one of three co-chairs of PCAST (the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/green/Obama_Chooses_Science_Team_for_Planetary_Survival__Prosperity.html|title=Obama Chooses Science Team for Planetary Survival, Prosperity|website=NBC Southern California|date=21 December 2008 |access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref> He resigned from that post to assume the directorship of the [[Organization:National Cancer Institute|National Cancer Institute]] (NCI) on July 12, 2010, after being named to the post by President Obama.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nursezone.com/Nursing-News-Events/more-news/President-Obama-to-Appoint-Harold-Varmus-MD-to-Lead-the-National-Cancer-Institute_34160.aspx|title=President Obama to Appoint Harold Varmus, M.D., to Lead the National Cancer Institute|website=nursezone.com|access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref>

=== National Cancer Institute directorship ===
On May 17, 2010, the White House announced that Varmus would become the 14th Director of the NCI, making him the first person to have served as director of an individual NIH Institute after being director of the entire NIH. In this capacity, despite diminishing budgets at all the Institutes including NCI, he started new administrative centers for cancer genomics and global health; initiated novel grant programs for "outstanding investigators," for "staff scientists," and for addressing "Provocative Questions."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Varmus | first1 = H. | last2 = Harlow | first2 = E. | year = 2012 | title = Provocative Questions in Cancer Research | journal = Nature | volume = 481 | issue = 7382| pages = 436–437 | doi=10.1038/481436a| pmid = 22281578 | s2cid = 205069623 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/5574/20150331220309/http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director|title=Director's Page|work=National Cancer Institute|archive-date=31 March 2015|date=2015-05-15}}</ref> He also renamed the [[Organization:Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research|Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research]] and started an initiative there to study RAS oncogenes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cancer.gov/research/key-initiatives/ras|title=The RAS Initiative|website=National Cancer Institute|access-date=2016-03-10|date=December 2014}}</ref>

On March 4, 2015, Varmus submitted his resignation to the president, effective March 31, 2015, announcing his intention to return to New York City as the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and as a senior associate at the New York Genome Center.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.nature.com/news/harold-varmus-to-resign-as-head-of-us-cancer-institute-1.17063|title=Harold Varmus to resign as head of US cancer institute|journal=Nature|access-date=2016-03-10|doi=10.1038/nature.2015.17063|year=2015|last1=Reardon|first1=Sara|s2cid=76143569}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/03/nobel-laureate-harold-varmus-join-weill-cornell-april-1 |title= Nobel laureate Harold Varmus to join Weill Cornell April 1 |newspaper = Cornell Chronicle |date= March 5, 2015 |access-date= 2016-12-28}}</ref> Deputy NCI Director Douglas Lowy became acting director of the NCI on April 1, 2015.

During his tenure as NCI Director, Varmus took the unusual step of co-authoring with three non-governmental colleagues a critique of several practices prevalent in the biomedical research community.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Alberts | first1 = B. | last2 = Kirschner | first2 = M.W. | last3 = Tilghman | first3 = S. | last4 = Varmus | first4 = H. | year = 2014 | title = Rescuing U.S. Biomedical Research from its Systemic Flaws | journal = PNAS | volume = 111 | issue = 16| pages = 5773–5777 | doi=10.1073/pnas.1404402111 | pmid=24733905 | pmc=4000813| bibcode = 2014PNAS..111.5773A | doi-access = free }}</ref> That essay has been the starting point for several subsequent efforts to reduce the hypercompetitive atmosphere in biomedical research.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rescuingbiomedicalresearch.org/|title=Home – Rescuing Biomedical Research|website=Rescuing Biomedical Research|language=en-US|access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref>

== Presidency of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center ==
[[File:Dr. Harold Varmus Director of the National Institutes of Health from 1993 until 1999 (14172851687).jpg|thumb|Varmus in 2000]]
After leaving the NIH Directorship at the end of 1999, Varmus became the president and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City on January 1, 2000. During his ten and a half years at MSKCC, he was best known for enlarging the basic and translational research faculty; building a major new laboratory facility, the Mortimer E. Zuckerman Research Center; starting a new graduate school for cancer biology (the Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences); overseeing renovation and construction of many clinical facilities; and leading a major capital campaign.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mskcc.org/press-releases/harold-varmus-step-down-president-mskcc|title=Harold Varmus to Step Down as President of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center|work=mskcc.org|date=12 January 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mskcc.org/sites/default/files/node/5441/documents/message-from-harold-varmus.pdf |title=Message from Harold Varmus |date=12 January 2010}}</ref> He also continued to run an active laboratory and to teach as a Member of the Sloan-Kettering Institute. On January 12, 2010, MSKCC reported that Varmus had asked the MSKCC Boards of Overseers and Managers "to begin a search for his successor." He left MSKCC on June 30, 2010, shortly before assuming the NCI directorship.

== Publication practices in science ==
Near the end of his tenure as NIH director, Varmus became a champion of ways to more effectively use the Internet to enhance access to scientific papers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.plos.org/about/plos/history/|title=PLOS History|website=www.plos.org|access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2006/06/varmus/|title=Free Radical|magazine=WIRED|language=en-US|access-date=2016-03-10|date=June 2006}}</ref> The first practical outcome was the establishment, with David Lipman of the [[Organization:National Center for Biotechnology Information|National Center for Biotechnology Information]] at NIH, of [[Biology:PubMed Central|PubMed Central]], a public digital library of full-length scientific reports;<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Vastag|first=Brian|date=2000-03-01|title=NIH Launches PubMed Central|journal=Journal of the National Cancer Institute|language=en|volume=92|issue=5|pages=374|doi=10.1093/jnci/92.5.374|issn=0027-8874|pmid=10699067|doi-access=free}}</ref> in 2007, Congress directed NIH to ensure that all reports of work supported by the NIH appear in PubMed Central within a year after publication.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencecodex.com/public_access_mandate_made_law|title=Public access to NIH research made law|website=www.sciencecodex.com|access-date=2016-03-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085317/http://www.sciencecodex.com/public_access_mandate_made_law|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}</ref> Varmus and two colleagues, Patrick Brown at Stanford and Michael Eisen at UC Berkeley, were co-founders and leaders of the board of directors of the Public Library of Science (PLOS), a not-for-profit publisher of a suite of open access journals in the biomedical sciences.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Patrick O|last2=Eisen|first2=Michael B|last3=Varmus|first3=Harold E|title=Why PLoS Became a Publisher|journal=PLOS Biology|volume=1|issue=1|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0000036|pmc=212706|pmid=14551926|year=2003|pages=E36 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Advisory roles ==
Varmus has been a frequent advisor to the US government, foundations, academic institutions and industry. Currently, he serves as a member of the Secretary of Energy's advisory board, the Global Health Advisory Board at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the board of directors of the International Biomedical Research Alliance,<ref>{{Cite news|title=People|last=Staff|date=July 2016|work=Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News|issue=13|volume=36|page=37|type=Paper}}</ref> the Lasker Foundation Prize Jury, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the [[Organization:Broad Institute|Broad Institute]] at Harvard and MIT, and he chairs advisory groups for the Faculty of 1000 and the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health.  In the past, he was chairman of the Grand Challenges in Global Health at the Gates Foundation,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Varmus|first1=H.|last2=Klausner|first2=R.|last3=Zerhouni|first3=E.|last4=Acharya|first4=T.|last5=Daar|first5=A. S.|last6=Singer|first6=P. A.|date=2003-10-17|title=Grand Challenges in Global Health|journal=Science|language=en|volume=302|issue=5644|pages=398–399|doi=10.1126/science.1091769|issn=0036-8075|pmc=243493|pmid=14563993}}</ref> a member of the [[Organization:World Health Organization|World Health Organization]]'s Commission on Macroeconomics and Health,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/42435/1/924154550X.pdf|title=Macroeconomics and health : investing in health for economic development / report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health}}</ref> and an advisor to Merck & Co., [[Company:Chiron Corporation|Chiron Corporation]], [[Company:Gilead Sciences|Gilead]], and Onyx Pharmaceuticals. He has been chair of the [[Organization:World Health Organization|World Health Organization]]'s Science Council since its founding in 2021<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.int/groups/science-council|title=WHO Science Council|website=who.int|access-date=7 October 2023}}</ref>

Varmus has criticized the high cost of many modern cancer drugs, which create barriers to treatment.  He advocates for the  genetic testing of cancers as a routine reimbursed procedure, and for wider use of the information that genetic testing of cancer can provide.   He argues that widespread use of panel tests and exome analyses to identify cancer-causing mutations would be simpler and cheaper than full genome analysis.  He has argued for the coverage of such services under Medicare and Medicaid on the grounds of Coverage with Evidence Development, since the data could be used to better evaluate test and treatments. He supports the creation of a database of information that can be correlated with clinical outcomes for use by all oncologists.  He is hopeful that researchers will soon use new technologies to move beyond the study of primary tumors, where they have had considerable success, and explore how cancer initiates and the development of [[Medicine:Metastasis|metastasic cancers]].<ref name="Beil"/>

== Awards and honors ==
* 1975: elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Pocock|url=https://www.amacad.org/person/john-pocock|access-date=2022-02-22|website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|language=en}}</ref>
* 1982: Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/1982_b_description.htm |title=The Lasker Foundation – 1982 Basic Medical Research Award<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2014-10-17 |archive-date=2015-09-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915045012/http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/1982_b_description.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* 1984: Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Prize
* 1989: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1989/varmus-lecture.html|title=Harold E. Varmus – Nobel Lecture: Retroviruses and Oncogenes I|work=nobelprize.org}}</ref>
* 1990: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>
* 1994: elected to the American Philosophical Society<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=John+G.+A.+Pocock&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2022-02-22|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
* 2002: [[Medicine:Novartis-Drew Award|Novartis-Drew Award]]
* 2005: Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS)<ref name="formemrs">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013211749/https://royalsociety.org/people/harold-varmus-12455/|archive-date=2015-10-13|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/harold-varmus-12455/|title=Professor Harold Varmus ForMemRS|publisher=Royal Society|location=London}}</ref>
* 2011: Double Helix Medal<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.cshl.edu/DHMD/2011-Honoree-Harold-E-Varmus.html |title= Harold E. Varmus 2011 Honoree |publisher= Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory |access-date= 2016-12-28 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161229035123/http://www.cshl.edu/DHMD/2011-Honoree-Harold-E-Varmus.html |archive-date= 2016-12-29 |url-status= dead }}</ref>
* 2012: Glenn T. Seaborg Medal

== Personal life ==
Varmus has been married since 1969 to Constance Louise Casey, a journalist and science writer. They live on Manhattan's Upper West Side and have two sons: Jacob, a jazz trumpet player and composer who lives in Queens, and Christopher, a social worker who lives in Brooklyn. Varmus and Jacob have performed a series of lecture-concerts entitled "Genes and Jazz" at the Guggenheim<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/12/01/swing-science|title=Swing Science|last=Goldberger|first=Paul|date=2008-12-01|newspaper=The New Yorker|issn=0028-792X|access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref> and Smithsonian Museums, the Boston Museum of Science, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the South Asian Summer Festival in Vancouver.

== See also ==

* List of Jewish Nobel laureates

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/MV/ The Harold Varmus Papers] – Profiles in Science, National Library of Medicine
*[https://www.ibiology.org/profiles/english-literature-major/ Harold Varmus's Short Talk: "How I Became a Scientist"]
* [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ostp/pcast President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100609030158/http://www.plos.org/about/board.php Board member profile] at the Public Library of Science
*[http://www.ibiology.org/ibiomagazine/issue-3/harold-varmus-changing-the-way-we-publish.html Harold Varmus's short talk: "Changing the Way We Publish"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018193614/https://www.ibiology.org/ibiomagazine/issue-3/harold-varmus-changing-the-way-we-publish.html |date=2017-10-18 }}
* {{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep1810|description="The Open Mind – A Man For All Seasons, Part I (2004)"}}
* {{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep1811|description="The Open Mind – A Man For All Seasons, Part II (2004)"}}
* {{C-SPAN|24162}}
* {{Charlie Rose view|973}}
* {{IMDb name|2213750}}
* Archives:
** [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt4f59q9k8 Personal Papers of Harold Varmus I] – UCSF Archives & Special Collections
** [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt4n39q9j2 Personal Papers of Harold Varmus II] – UCSF Archives & Special Collections
** [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt767nd39m Personal Papers of Harold Varmus III] – UCSF Archives & Special Collections
* [http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/Harold_Elliot_Varmus.html Access Excellence Biography]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080621031332/http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/1780.cfm Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Biography]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/04/090407_theforum_290309.shtml Audio: Harold Varmus in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show] ''The Forum''
* Review: [http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=michael_rogawski ''Michael A. Rogawski. "The Art and Politics of Science (book review)" Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 52.1 (2009): 637–642.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308164617/http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=michael_rogawski |date=2012-03-08 }}
* [http://www.varmuslab.org/ The Laboratory of Harold Varmus]
* {{Nobelprize}}

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{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=Bernadine Healy}}
{{s-ttl|title=Director of the [[Organization:National Institutes of Health|National Institutes of Health]]|order=14th|years=1993 – 1999}}
{{s-aft|after=Elias Zerhouni}}
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{{s-bef|before=John E. Niederhuber}}
{{s-ttl|title=Director of the [[Organization:National Cancer Institute|National Cancer Institute]]|order=14th|years=2010 – 2015}}
{{s-aft|after=Douglas R. Lowy (Acting)<br>Norman Sharpless}}
{{s-end}}

{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1976–2000}}
{{1989 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Winners of the National Medal of Science|biological}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varmus, Harold E.}}
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]

{{Sourceattribution|Harold E. Varmus}}