Whitehead Director David C. Page
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David C. Page |
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David C. Page knows what Whitehead can do for talented
young scientists. He arrived at the Institute in 1984
to participate in the Whitehead
Fellows Program. A graduate of Harvard Medical School,
he set up an independent research program with Whitehead
funds and soon published groundbreaking studies on the
Y chromosome.
After becoming a Whitehead Member in 1986, Page continued
to make important discoveries about sex determination.
He was appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator
and elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
He also received the MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship
(1986), the Searle Scholar’s Award (1989), the
Amory Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
(1997), and the Curt Stern Award from the American Society
of Human Genetics (2003). His scientific prowess and
thoughtful nature made him the perfect candidate for
Whitehead Director. He was elected to this post in December
of 2005 after serving as Interim Director for a year.
Message from the Director
"I preside over what is basically an artists’
colony. What we do here at Whitehead is attract the
best possible intellectual capital and empower maximally
creative—really wildly creative—individuals
to realize their dreams within these walls.
Recruiting the best young people is my highest priority.
This requires that we provide candidates with a sense
of unlimited resources, a sense of unlimited possibility.
Talented researchers with support and few constraints
have a disproportionate impact on their fields. We must
embrace scientific individuality by identifying and
betting on the most creative young scientists through
vehicles such as the Whitehead Fellows program.
Whitehead Fellows have recently completed their graduate
work and come to us solely to focus on their research.
They have no teaching obligations, no committee work.
They have unlimited time to devote to their science.
Each hand-picked fellow is given the freedom and resources
to pursue his or her most out-of-the-box research dreams.
Over the years, we have trained an extraordinary crew
of empowered, creative individuals. I consider the Whitehead
Fellows Program to be among our finest institutional
contributions to the world.
In addition to giving promising young scientists a
boost, Whitehead will continue to support those who
explore biology’s frontiers. While the world is
trying to come to grips with the meaning of stem cell
research, for example, stem cell science at Whitehead
is roaring ahead. Members such as Richard
Young and Rudolf
Jaenisch are probing the genes that make a stem
cell a stem cell. That’s how Whitehead research
works. We begin with first principles. Once these basic
processes are understood, the possibilities—therapeutic,
diagnostic and intellectual—blossom in all directions."
—Adapted from a November 2005 address to the Board
of Associates
Last updated September 10, 2006. |
