Harold Varmus, MD, director of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health, has announced his is stepping down, effective March 31.
Dr. Varmus served as director of the NCI for five years. During his tenure, he created NCI's new Center for Global Health, re-energized the cooperative clinical trials system, launched an initiative to find cell-targeting drugs, led the cancer component of the Precision Medicine Initiative and contributed countless valuable ideas to biomedical research.
After leaving the NCI, Dr. Varmus plans to establish a modestly sized research laboratory in the Meyer Cancer Center at the Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York City and serve as a senior advisor to the dean. He also plans to work with the recently founded New York Genome Center to develop research and introduce genomics into cancer care.
NCI Deputy Director Douglas Lowy, MD — recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama in 2014 for his research that led to the development of the human papillomavirus vaccine — will become acting director for NCI beginning April 1.