Harold E. Varmus, MD, named NCI director

On Monday, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint Nobel laureate Harold E. Varmus, MD, as director of the National Cancer Institute.

Varmus, 70, is slated to take control of the institute and its $5 billion budget in July. Varmus has served as president and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center since 2000.

In response to the appointment, Allen S. Lichter, MD, CEO of ASCO, said in a statement, “ASCO is delighted that the president has nominated Dr. Harold Varmus to the position of National Cancer Institute director. Dr. Varmus is one of the nation’s pre-eminent scientific minds. The nomination of such an accomplished scientist is a signal that the administration is committed to superlative science for our nation’s cancer research enterprise.”

Varmus has had a long career as a scientist, physician and public official. From 1993 to 1999, he served as director of the NIH, and in 2008, President Obama named him co-chair of the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

In addition, in 1989, Varmus and J. Michael Bishop, MD, won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their work using an oncogenic retrovirus to identify the growth-controlling oncogenes in normal cells.

Varmus is replacing current director John E. Niederhuber, MD. Niederhuber joined the NCI in 2005 as chief operating officer and deputy director for translational and clinical sciences. President George W. Bush appointed him director in 2006.

“Dr. Varmus will bring to the NCI an unrivaled appreciation for how basic science serves as the foundation for understanding healthy function, as well as disease conditions,” Elizabeth H. Blackburn, PhD, president of the American Association for Cancer Research, said in a press release. “His visionary leadership will allow NCI to continue leading the way in programs aimed at preventing disease, improving health and reducing suffering from cancer.”