Conversations with Giants in Medicine
How are behavioral decisions modified by context and experience? Cornelia Bargmann of Rockefeller University has made this her life’s work, exploring the intersection between genes, the environment, and the nervous system in the roundworm, C. elegans. Bargmann is also seeking to help cure, manage, and prevent all disease by the year 2100 by serving as Head of Science for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Charles Sawyers of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has defined the molecular lesions that cause cancer and used these insights to develop new drugs. Specifically, Sawyers was one of the critical members of the team that brought imatinib and dasatinib to bear on chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Furthermore, his work has identified second-generation antiandrogen drugs to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer. This interview reveals personal stories of a physician-scientist called “the greatest cancer researcher of our time” by one of his peers.
The combined efforts of Doug Lowy and John Schiller form the basis of the biology behind the vaccines for HPV (human papillomavirus), which underlies cervical cancers as well as oropharyngeal cancers. With widespread uptake, these vaccines have the potential to wipe out these cancers in a generation. The JCI spoke with Schiller and Lowy from the National Cancer Institute when they were in New York City to collect the 2017 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award.
Michael N. Hall was recently announced as the recipient of the 2017 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for the discovery of TOR proteins, which play a central role in the nutrient-sensing system that controls cell growth. This breakthrough finding paved the way for key insights into the pathogenesis and the treatment of wide-ranging human diseases. Hall joined JCI’s Editor at Large Ushma Neill to discuss his international upbringing and the circumstances that led to his team’s characterization of this essential signaling pathway. In the interview, he also reveals why the research project nearly failed before it began and how TOR got its name.
In 2012, the JCI’s Editor in Chief Howard Rockman proposed a new series focusing on the careers of today’s most accomplished physician-scientists. Since then, Editor at Large Ushma Neill has interviewed scientists as part of the Conversations with Giants in Medicine series, including Laurie Glimcher, Huda Zoghbi, and Oliver Smithies. The interviews have revealed the diverse career paths, hidden talents, and sometimes quirky personalities of this inspirational group of researchers. To reflect on her experiences, she collected her favorite moments from the series in this highlight reel.
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ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)