What is Harold Varmus?
{{Infobox scientist |name = Harold Varmus |image = HEVarmus.jpg |birth_name=Harold Eliot Varmus |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1939|12|18}} |birth_place = [[Oceanside, New York|Oceanside]], [[New York]], U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |field = [[Cell biology]] |alma_mater = [[Amherst College]]<br>[[Harvard University]]<br>[[Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons|Columbia University]] |known_for = [[Retrovirus|Retroviral]] [[oncogene]]s; [[PLOS]] |prizes = 1989 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] |spouse=Constance Louise Casey (m. 1969; 2 children)}} '''Harold Eliot Varmus''' (born December 18, 1939) is an [[Americans|American]] scientist. He won a [[Nobel Prize]]. He is the 14th and current Director of the [[National Cancer Institute]]. He was appointed to that post he was appointed to by President [[Barack Obama]].<ref>President Obama to appoint Harold E. Varmus M.D. to lead National Cancer Institute: [http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director-announced?cid=B_ND] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527085250/http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/director-announced?cid=B_ND |date=2010-05-27 }}</ref> Varmus was a co-recipient, with [[J. Michael Bishop]], of the 1989 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for their discovery of the origin of [[retrovirus|retroviral]] [[oncogene]]s.<ref>{{cite web | publisher= Official Nobel Prize Award Site | title= The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1989 | url= http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1989/varmus-autobio.html | access-date= 2014-02-13 | archive-date= 2008-06-12 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080612091132/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1989/varmus-autobio.html | url-status= dead }}</ref> Varmus described the work in his Nobel lecture.<ref>[http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1989/varmus-lecture.pdf Retroviruses and oncogenes I]. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 19