LONDON—John Hamlyn’s laboratory walls at the University of Maryland are plastered with pictures of the English countryside of his youth. The 34-year-old physiologist says he would like to return there some day, “but not in the foreseeable future. ”
Hamlyn received his Ph.D. in physiology from Glasgow University and planned to return to the United Kingdom after some training abroad. But during a 1981 visit home he “was appalled at the state of science” in his native country.
“Money was tight and there were no opportunities,” he recalled. “My impression now is that Britain has a lot of talented people who are not being adequately supported.”
Hamlyn decided to stay in the United States, and today is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland medical school He runs two well-equipped laboratories, has three scientists working under him, and oversees a $1 million annual research budget.
His research opportunities far...