Harold Varmus, M.D., a former faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco for 20 years and a co-recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, has been chosen by President Barack Obama to become the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Varmus is also a former Director of the National Institutes of Health, appointed by President Clinton in 1993. During his time there he coordinated the construction of a new clinical center, and helped to initiate the doubling of the NIH budget.

For the last decade Varmus has been President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He developed inter-institutional research programs there, led a two-billion capital campaign and initiated a graduate school in cancer biology.

At UCSF he researched cancer genes and retroviruses and it was his research on the genetic basis for cancer that won him the Nobel Prize along with J. Michael Bishop.

Francis Collins, M.D., Director of the NIH, said in an e-mail to NCI staff that Varmus, “brings unmatched expertise at all levels - not only in cutting edge scientific research, but also as a leader in the development of strategies for improving patient care, in scientific  education and training, and in the design of novel public-private partnerships.”