According to Derek Toomre of Yale University, Ajit Varki - professor of medicine and cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego - came to the United States for the music. "At least that's what he told us," says Toomre, Varki's former graduate student. "He was a top medical student in India and he was drawn here because he liked rock and roll."
It's true, says Varki, who received his medical degree from the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India. "I always tell people I came to the US for research and rock and roll." Although many of the bands he hoped to see perform (Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes, and Jethro Tull) were British, Varki chose to pursue his training in America because all the bands toured there frequently and because the United States was a mecca for physician-scientists looking to perform cutting-edge research.
Both the sounds ...
