Harold Varmus, co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for studies of the genetic basis of cancer, became the Lewis Thomas University Professor at the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine in April, 2015. Formerly he served as Director of the National Cancer Institute from 2010 to 2015, as President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for ten years, and as Director of the National Institutes of Health for six years. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine and is involved in several initiatives to promote science and health in developing countries. The author of over 350 scientific papers and five books, including a recent memoir titled The Art and Politics of Science, he was a co-chair of President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a co-founder and Chairman of the Board of the Public Library of Science, and chair of the Scientific Board of the Gates Foundation Grand Challenges in Global Health.