Sequencing the Human Genome: About Craig Venter
"Speed matters--Discovery can't wait™" is the Celera motto that sums up the spirit and drive behind the accomplishments of visionary J. Craig Venter Ph.D., Celera's President and Chief Scientific Officer, and leader of the private effort to sequence the human genome. Bringing together the world's top people in science and technology, Venter created a private enterprise that accelerated the genome project to warp speed.
Venter made the switch from medicine to research early on, hoping to someday make a major scientific discovery that would impact a greater number of people than he could as a physician treating individual patients. Certain life-changing experiences, among them his tour of duty during the Vietnam War, revealed the finite nature of life and the power of the human spirit to prevail against the odds. "I am not afraid to take risk," he says. "I'm not afraid to go against the social order."
Critics and naysayers have taken issue with his non-traditional blend of business and science and his bold approach. But Venter moves forward, motivated by a strong conviction that his scientific and technological methods work, a fearless nature in the face of risk, and his long reaching vision of the project's potential human benefits.
Sources: Prepared Statement, J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer, Celera Genomics, before the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, US House of Representatives Committee on Science, April 6, 2000 http://www.ostp.gov/html/00626_4.html
NOVA Online-"Cracking the Code of Life"- Interview with Robert Krulwich, host of ABC's "Nightline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genome/decoders.html
More: Sequencing the Human Genome
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