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David C. Page knows what Whitehead can do for talented young scientists. He arrived at the Institute in 1984 to participate in the Whitehead Fellows Program. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, he set up an independent research program with Whitehead funds and soon published groundbreaking studies on the Y chromosome.
After becoming a Whitehead Member in 1986, Page continued to make important discoveries about sex determination. He was appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He also received the MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship (1986), the Searle Scholar’s Award (1989), the Amory Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1997), and the Curt Stern Award from the American Society of Human Genetics (2003). His scientific prowess and thoughtful nature made him the perfect candidate for Whitehead Director. He was elected to this post in December of 2005 after serving as Interim Director for a year.
Message from the Director
"I preside over what is basically an artists’ colony. What we do here at Whitehead is attract the best possible intellectual capital and empower maximally creative really wildly creative individuals to realize their dreams within these walls.
Recruiting the best young people is my highest priority. This requires that we provide candidates with a sense of unlimited resources, a sense of unlimited possibility. Talented researchers with support and few constraints have a disproportionate impact on their fields. We must embrace scientific individuality by identifying and betting on the most creative young scientists through vehicles such as the Whitehead Fellows program.
Whitehead Fellows have recently completed their graduate work and come to us solely to focus on their research. They have no teaching obligations, no committee work. They have unlimited time to devote to their science. Each hand-picked fellow is given the freedom and resources to pursue his or her most out-of-the-box research dreams. Over the years, we have trained an extraordinary crew of empowered, creative individuals. I consider the Whitehead Fellows Program to be among our finest institutional contributions to the world. | 