Fuentes de financiamiento a corto plazo

Success in any field is largely about taking risks. While I have always been somewhat of a risk

taker, my time in Vietnam really helped put things in perspective. Out there I had to worry about losing my life multiple times a day. Being back in the comfort of America with my life relatively protected, career risks seemed pretty trivial. As a result, I’ve gone out on professional limbs that very few people would. My government job with NIH provided me with guaranteed employment and

science funding, but I gave all that up to pursue what most of my peers viewed as a real long shot. My sequencing experiment could have failed, and I would have been left without a source of income, but I believed so strongly that my method would work that I was willing to take the risk.

The biggest obstacle I continually face is the static resistance to new ideas and new approaches. If you look at the history of breakthroughs in science and medicine, almost everything that’s turned out to be a major development was initially attacked by the establishment—mainly because it was a threat. Thomas Kuhn wrote about the stages of paradigm shifts in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: First a new idea is attacked then it’s reluctantly accepted. Along with the acceptance comes denial that it was ever an issue to begin with and a bit of historical revision that it was never that big of a breakthrough. A great example of this can be seen through the story of Barry Marshall, the Australian physician who discovered that bacteria causes stomach ulcers. At the time of Marshall’s breakthrough, the whole medical establishment believed that ulcers were caused by stress, spicy foods, and too much acid. In addition, the whole pharmaceutical industry was based on this premise (antacids were sold to treat stomach ulcers). The last thing they wanted the cause of ulcers to be was bacteria—so Marshall and his theory were severely attacked over and over again. Finally in 1984, he drank a whole petri dish of bacteria to prove his point. He developed severe ulcers, and it was slowly accepted that bacteria was the cause of not only stomach ulcers but also of stomach cancer. Marshall finally received the Nobel Prize in 2005 for his discovery, but it was only through that kind of perseverance that he was able to prove his point and overcome the opposition.

This phenomenon, unfortunately, is not unique to science. Life is about competition. Certain people intensely dislike others because they’re either successful or do things differently. Politicians get this all the time for picking one party over another. It’s discouraging that people work at this basic level, but that’s part of humanity. You really need to believe in yourself and not let others’ opinions define you.

Being able to change directions when needed is essential in life, especially in science. Sometimes you go down a dead-end path, but that’s part of the process. The sooner you realize it the better so you can get on the right track. Most scientists work in a linear fashion. They’ll spend years doing something, and then do the final experiment, which won’t work because their theory was flawed from the beginning.

I like to start with quick and dirty experiments to gauge if we are on the right track. If we are, I get intensely focused and put 110 percent into proving it and making it work in an elegant fashion. When we’re not, we reassess and change directions. My team will tell you that I reserve the right to change my mind and that I’m constantly rethinking things. It’s like sailing. The way you go upwind is to tack back and forth from one side to another and slowly work your way up. You can’t go straight into the wind.

Ideally, I wish I had started my formal education earlier—it would have given me more time to accomplish the things I want to in life. However, my real-world education was necessary to shape me into the person I am. I hope that others won’t need to experience anything close to the intensity of war

to find themselves, but I see more and more kids taking off for a year or so after they finish college and doing something different. I think that’s smart if you don’t know what you want to do and can afford the time. So many people get pushed along in the “system,” and because they don’t really know what they want to do, they practically let their careers be chosen for them. If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, it’s hard to be successful at it. You can show up and do what’s required, and you can even do your job well, but that’s not where real success is going to come from. Success

comes from doing something extraordinary with passion and intensity.

A key element to my success has been my ability to attract the best people in the world to work with me—and then keep them motivated. A lot of scientists isolate themselves in their laboratories. To me, science is about team building. I work with large multidisciplinary teams composed of physicists, mathematicians, biochemists, biologists, and computer scientists. We all intermingle in a shared

workspace and contribute our own personal expertise to solve a problem. I’ve found that most people like being part of something larger than themselves and accomplishing an ambitious goal.