Is there something unattractive about NIH institute director positions?
F.C.: Most of the people that you would probably put on your short list are currently at the peak of their scientific and research careers. Coming to the NCI would undoubtedly make it rather difficult for them to continue that kind of intense focus on their own research. It’s a big job. You’re going to have to put most of your time into running the institute. Harold, by the way, is bringing a small lab with him. He’ll continue to do research in a way but in a way that he knows is limited. So yeah, it would be, I think, not surprising then that a lot of the people that you would have on your list are not really in a position to do this without great damage to their own scientific careers. And frankly, the government doesn’t pay very well. That’s a reality that I can testify to. And we would never be able to compete, I think, on a purely financial basis with the top-notch cancer researchers in the country, plus they would be asked, in fact required, to give up all consulting relationship
