A Farewell Message from Peter Agre

January 19, 2005

Dear Colleagues:

It is with more than a tinge of sadness that I share with you my decision to leave Johns Hopkins after 28 years. I have been a student, fellow and faculty member here, but it is now time for me to pursue a new path in a new place. I will miss my many colleagues and friends, as well as the collegiality that has made all of my roles here so rewarding. It has been particularly gratifying to be a member of two wonderful departments -- Medicine and Biological Chemistry. Being at home on both sides of Monument Street really helped me in my research and during my years as Director of our Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and as Director of the Young Investigators' Day Committee.

It is impossible for me to find words for all the feelings I have about saying goodbye to the institution and people who educated, trained and mentored me, and with whom I and members of my lab have had many very productive scientific collaborations. The atmosphere at Hopkins -- one of collegiality and curiosity -- created an environment that spawned a lucky discovery that was deemed worthy of a Nobel Prize in 2003. As I've said over and over again, that discovery could never have happened without the input of many, many other people, and for past and continuing relationships I will always be grateful. The recognition of Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences was and still is humbling, and yet it has provided the unexpected opportunity to raise my voice in defense of basic human rights and civil liberties.

And so I am very excited about my next steps. I began a six month sabbatical on Jan. 1, and on July 1 will become Vice Chancellor for Science and Technology at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. The opportunity at Duke will allow me to pursue some long-standing interests in science policy and education through which I hope to raise the interest of young people in science -- both at the university and beyond. Duke will also provide a platform for my interest in championing human rights. This has become even more important to me in recent years, and I will begin this winter as Chair of the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academy of Sciences. My laboratory will move to Duke as well, albeit smaller than the operation I've had at Hopkins. My ties to Baltimore will not end, however, as my youngest daughter will finish high school here, and my wife will remain in Baltimore while she does so.

I started out as a physician, but the tug of biological unknowns in hematology pulled me into the laboratory full-time. Now there is a new irresistible force I must address, and Duke is the place where I can do it. I am sad to leave my Hopkins colleagues and friends, but so glad to be starting this next phase. Please accept my sincere thanks for making my years at Hopkins so fruitful.

Sincerely,


Peter Agre, M.D.