Broder's Surprise Departure From NCI Reveals Strain Of Government Service

After 22 years at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) the last six as director Samuel Broder will retire in April to become chief scientific officer at IVAX Corp., a Miami-based pharmaceutical company, at a salary reported to be about twice his current pay of $120,000. There is more than money behind Broder's December decision to leave, however. His is a portrait of a scientist frustrated with the politics of government service and increasingly estranged from scientific colleagues, cancer patie

| 8 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
8:00
Share

Broder's legacy at NCI includes central work on the development of AZT, one of only a few drugs approved to directly treat HIV infection. He is also credited with broadly and effectively promoting the full range of basic and clinical research activities at NCI, the largest of the National Institutes of Health, with a budget of more than $2 billion.

"I view him as having been more balanced than previous directors, who have been focused almost exclusively on either clinical work or on basic science," says G. Marie Swanson, a professor of medicine and director of the cancer center at Michigan State University. "Broder's tried to have a more balanced perspective, realizing we need advances in all the areas."

Swanson, also a member of the board of scientific counselors for NCI's division of cancer prevention and control, praises Broder for securing increased funding for research in those areas.

At the ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Franklin Hoke

    This person does not yet have a bio.

Published In

Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide