hi,
an interesting piece read in economic times is attached
hope you like it
regards.
CO S M I C U P LI N K
Save your dreams from setbacks
VITHALC NADKARNI
HAROLD Varmus, who won the Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on
oncogenes, marvels at the role chance and dogged persistence have played in his
career. His father was a general physician and wanted the son to follow his
example. Varmus obliged by taking premed courses as an undergraduate. But
academic life challenged “presumptions about my future as a physician”, and he
drifted from science to philosophy and finally to English literature. He was
also active in politics and journalism.
Varmus went on to join graduate studies in literature at Harvard University.
But within the year, he again felt the lure of medicine. He was rebuffed when
he tried to switch fields and went back to literature “uninspired by thoughts
of a career in that field”.
After a year, he applied once again to Harvard medical school. But this time
around he was rejected more sternly: The dean who chastised him in an interview
for being “inconstant and immature” advised him to go and join the military
instead! Varmus ended up with a Master's degree in English with a focus on
Anglo-Saxon and metaphysical poetry.
However, the freshly minted scholar found that friends, who had chosen
medicine seemed more fulfilled and excited about studying matters with
immediate relevance to basic human needs. He also felt increasingly haunted by
the thought that as a professor of literature his students would likely feel
relief if he failed to show up for a lecture, whereas as a physician, his
patients would be distraught if he cancelled an appointment.
So Varmus burnt his bridges once again and decided to try his luck at the
Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Officials here were obviously
impressed with his competence in the two cultures of science and literature. He
found himself welcomed enthusiastically. Varmus dove headfirst into medical
school only to shift after graduation from practice to research, after a
threemonth stint as an intern in a mission hospital in Bareilly.
He soon found himself at the forefront of cancer research at the University
of California, San Francisco, on his way to a Nobel Prize, to become a “global
scientist-statesman who bridges science and society to solve the weightiest
challenges”. The moral of the story is to never let rejection daunt your
dreams. If the school you love rebuffs you, immerse yourself in the one that
welcomes you.
The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage.
http://in.yahoo.com/
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