Dr. Lee Hartwell is president and director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington. Dr. Hartwell’s primary research contributions were in the identification of genes that control cell division in yeast, including those necessary for the division process as well as those necessary for the fidelity of genome reproduction. Subsequently, many of these genes have been found to control cell division in humans and often to be the site of alteration in cancer. Recently Dr. Hartwell’s interests have turned to how we can use the enormous knowledge that has been gained about biology to improve health care. He believes that the most efficient path is to improve molecular diagnostics to identify individuals at high risk for disease, detect cancers and other diseases at an early stage when they can be cured, provide prognostic information and monitor therapeutic response. Dr. Hartwell is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and received the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Award in Cancer Research and the 2001 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.