File Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi (AFP Photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday had a meeting with eminent Nobel Laureate and famous cancer specialist Professor Harold Varmus and invited him to visit India to assist in health and public care research.
Interestingly, 74-year-old Dr Varmus, currently director of the US National Cancer Institute, had done his apprenticeship in a mission hospital in Bareilly in the 1960s. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or medicine in 1989 for his discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes.
During his 30-minute interaction with PM Modi, they discussed a wide range of public health care issues, including those related to cancer research, vaccine and possibilities of research in India.
"The Prime Minister invited him to visit India on a regular basis. The professor congratulated Mr Modi on the laws in India on anti-smoking," the spokesperson Ministry of External Affairs told reporters.
Recollecting his India days in 1960s, Dr Varmus also talked about how medicines have evolved since then.