I could never have imagined that one day,

I would be giving a lecture in Korea,

let alone at KAIST

So what I want to tell you about today, is my journey in science

and some of the roads not taken;

maybe some I have chosen, some I didn't

and how I ended up as a professor and as a scientist.

So, many of us through our lives, especially as we enter college

have a number of questions we ask ourselves:

What will I be? How will I get there? Where am I going?

Some of you have already looked at my website,

or other websites of various professors, or various professionals,

and you look at a curriculum vitae or resume

And I see a list of what I call, endpoints.

Where I got my bachelor's degree, Master's, Ph.D,

Where I did post-doctoral work.

Where I was an assistant professor for the first time

So, those are endpoints, but I think what's more interesting

from what we've heard about today,

are the journeys that people take

And there are certain turning points in my life,

which actually influenced my journey in science,

and my ultimately coming to KAIST to be a professor here.

So what I want to describe, are 10 turning points

that influenced where I am today, right here giving you a talk

So my first turning point occured in 1974,

when I was a 3rd year undergraduate student

Now, like many students in college,

I started out with fantasies of being a medical doctor, as a pre-med student

And then in my 3rd year in college, I kind of lost interest

and passion and drive to become a doctor.

So I actually withdrew from school,

and I came home that winter break, and my parents said:

"Well what are you going to do if you leave school?"

I said, I'm going to be trying research.

I said, I'm going to be trying research.

I think I want to be a research scientist,

And my father - in his very gentle, understanding voice - any way said:

"Well you've never worked in a laboratory before"

I said, "Yeah, I know. I want to try it"

So, that was probably one of the most important turning points in my life

'Cause I did the experiment. And the experimental result was fantastic.

'Cause I did the experiment. And the experimental result was fantastic.

I said, "Wow. This is really fun and interesting"

I want to be a scientist.

So then, with that experience in mind, I decided that

I wanted to undergo further studies to become a research scientist.

So the next key turning point in my life occurred when I

least expected it. Before I started my Ph.D studies,

I happened to write to a scientist in the Netherlands, Nick van Bekkum

Who was the director of an institute, and asked if I could work there

And he actually agreed for me to come to his laboratory for

this summer.

At that point, I really hadn't thought carefully about the differences

between basic science, and applied science, and clinical science.

And so, what started out to be my first of many trips overseas and abroad,

I worked at an institute, the Radiobiolgical Institute,

and it completely changed my thought about Ph.D studies.

And in that laboratory, they had both applied research, and basic research

The applied research, was trying to do experimental treatments of leukemia

and back in 1976, there wasn't very good treatments

for leukemia, let alone any cancer.

And another part of the laboratory, was studying basic biology of

stem cells, which I was working on.

And it was then and there that I began to understand that

in order to really understand a problem, you had to

understand the basics of that problem.

So, to solve the problems of treating human disease effectively,

what we really had to do is to figure out what was the molecular basis

of human disease.

So, my next great turning point occurred when I went to graduate school,

And I had an amazing Ph.D advisor, J.F. Kuo

My Ph.D was in pharmacology, it was studying biochemistry,

and he was a great mentor. Believe it or not, I

spent almost 4 years of my life isolating a single protein

from pig liver, there was a single protein in the test tube,

and I studied its physical and catalytic properties.

But what this experience taught me was not only how to do science,

but also the limitations of a single approach

And these days, everybody is talking about convergent technology

in almost any area of science, and engineering.

So I had done my Ph.D in pharmacology, I had done biochemistry,

But there were many different approaches out there that one

could use to begin to understand human disease

and I decided that I wanted to become a molecular biologist

and learn molecular biology.

Because in the early 80's, it was actually just the beginning of

the whole revolution in understanding genes, gene function,

and being able to study genes.

So my 4th turning point, occurred in 1982, when I obtained a

post-doctoral position at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is one of the foremost research institutes

in the world, and at the time I didn't really know that much about it

and my advisor was somewhat surprised that I decided to

work at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, because I had the

opportunity to work with Nobel Prize laureates, with members

of the National Academy of Science, and I chose to work for

two scientists that were just a couple of years older than me.

they were just two or three years beyond their post-docs themselves

and it turned out to be an amazing experience

and I want to relate one example of what I worked on,

when I was a postdoctoral fellow.

So as a post-doc, my first project was actually to express

a eukaryotic gene, an animal gene, in bacteria.

Back in the early 80's, it wasn't fully accepted that you could

actually express eukaryotic proteins, or animal proteins, in bacterial systems.

And so, I learned two things from this experiment.

One was, I was part of a team of four different scientists

which were each independent scientists

so it taught me the importance of teamwork,

and getting expertise from the right individuals.

And it also taught me that when people say that something can't be done,

it can be done.

So to make a long story short, this ended up resulting in a new methodology

where in fact, we said "Wow. We detected a protein expressed in bacteria

using antibodies to find the gene encoding the protein,

but more importantly, that at the time people said it couldn't be done

There was also a scientist there that gave me maybe my most

memorable compliment, and he said to me,

"David, you're too stupid to know why things don't work. So you try them anyway"

So I think that there are a lot of examples out there, where scientists

and other people that are creative were told "Don't try that. It won't work"

But somehow, when you try things, even though it may not seem like a good idea

you may be able to get the right experimental work.

My next turning point was something I didn't expect,

and that was, that I was promoted to the staff there, as an assistant professor in 1985.

And there were many great scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory,

and two I want to mention. One is Jim Watson,

who many of you know, Watson and Crick,

who discovered the structure of DNA.

And I still remember to this day, Jim Watson called me into his office,

gave me the letter of appointment, and said: "Oh David, there's one mistake in the letter"

"We're not gonna pay you $34,000/year, but we're actually gonna pay you $36,000/year"

And I just looked at Jim and I said, "Jim, it doesn't matter I don't care

"Jim, it doesn't matter I don't care"

I said, "I like working in the laboratory so much you don't have to pay me anything"

Well they couldn't do that, that would set a bad precedent, right?

But, one thing we've heard throughout this conference, is to find something you love

And work on it, and you'll be rewarded greatly.

The other person who I got to know really well was Barbara McClintock.

Some of you know Barbara McClintock; she did pioneering work

in maze genetics, and discovered transposable elements.

Well Barbara taught me two things, and yes I did have

completely black hair at one point in my life

So Barbara taught me one, was to be a good listener.

So after she died about a year later at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory,

they had a big kind of celebration of her life

I suggested to have a celebration, don't have a memorial service

and many scientists came to talk about Barbara.

and they all said how she had these mystical powers;

and they all said how she had these mystical powers;

how she was endowed with some great force that

allowed her to make these great discoveries

Well I knew Barbara both as a scientific colleague, and as a friend.

And she was the most amazing listener in the world.

And she taught me the importance of listening.

Both to your experiments, and to what other people say.

And the other thing she taught me - which was equally important -

was to believe in your ideas, because for many years she was

basically ignored in the scientific community

And it wasn't until years later when she won the Nobel Prize that

people started asking her about her work and if she was bitter about it,

and she said "Oh no, it's fine. I knew what I had discovered"

So those were truly great lessons that I learned from Barbara.

I also had the opportunity to travel around the world while

I was at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and visit many many countries

which is a great fringe benefit of being in academia, and being a scientist.

So people ask me many times even when I was in my early 30's

how long I would stay at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

And I always said that "Well, I'm not sure. But I know by the time I turn 50,

I'm going to leave".

I'm going to leave".

So yes, believe it or not I am the oldest speaker at this conference.

So, that brings me to another point, oh I'm sorry

before that I did a sabbatical; and this is another point I want to make.

And that's that learning is a lifelong process,

and even scientists need to be students throughout their lives, always learning.

So I had the fortune of going to Zurich, Switzerland at the ETH,

which is the equivalent of KAIST in Switzerland, and also going to the

Weizmann Institute of science. And those were great experiences,

expanded my learning potential, and one thing I find as a scientist

is that you're basically a student every day of your life.

Okay, so this is the seventh turning point in my life, and that was

finding a faculty position.

So I believed that when I turned 50 I would leave Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory,

And so, I was recruited to the University of Miami, at first to be Chairman

of the Department of Cell Biology.

And I said to myself after my third interview that,

"Well, I don't think I really want to be a Chairman"

But almost immediately, after I withdrew my name from consideration,

the Director of Cancer Center called me and said,

"Would you be interested in directing and developing a new graduate program in cancer biology?"

And I thought this was a great opportunity to build something from the ground up

which we all love to do when we have that opportunity.

So when I got to the university, I outlined this plan that I presented to the faculty

and what it involved was the combination of basic and clinical science

Well the basic scientists would teach students and also oncologists would

also be part of the training of the graduate students

So this was kind of unheard of because usually at a medical school,

the basic science departments are quite isolated from the clinical departments

and many of my Ph.D colleagues said,

"David, you'll never get a medical doctor interested in teaching graduate students"

Well it turned out I was right, they were wrong,

and the program became one of the most successful at the

University of Miami, and more importantly, I think the students are

now getting both training by clinical oncologists and also Ph.D's

So another critical point in my life was me and my future wife.

And that brings me to the 8th turning point in my life.

So as you might have guessed by looking at the slide,

I happened to marry a woman from Korea, Lee Joo-Young, who I met

almost as soon as I started working at the University of Miami

And she's gonna kill me for saying this, and she's in the audience, but

on our third date, she actually turned to me, and said "I want to have your children"

Now most men would go like "Appayo (Korean for "it hurts") I'm leaving", right?