My Lifelong Fight Against Disease

Book excerpt: Anticipating a career in medicine, Dr. William A. Haseltine was in his first weeks of graduate studies at Harvard when a legendary physician-scientist offered this advice: "You can do more for human health through science than you ever could as a doctor." That advice hit him "like a thunderbolt"--and he took it. Since then, Dr. Haseltine has helped combat cancers, worked to contain the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and unlocked the power of the human genome to develop dozens of new pharmaceutical cures. His discoveries in molecular biology and genomics, amplified through his counsel at the highest level of government and in the public eye, have improved the health and lives of millions of people around the world. For the first time, Dr. Haseltine tells his life story--which is still unfolding--in My Lifelong Fight Against Disease, including facing devastating public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlighting exhilarating moments of medical discovery. In writing the story of his wide ranging career, Dr. Haseltine's goals are simple: to encourage the next generation to make their own significant contribution to human life, and for all readers to appreciate science as a humanistic enterprise. A compulsively readable and fast-paced insider's account of some of the most brilliant medical breakthroughs in modern history, My Lifelong Fight Against Disease is a candid, evocative, and ultimately revelatory exploration into what it means to make science your life.