I didn’t listen to my instincts, essentially, and I presumed other people knew more than me, and actually, nobody knows more about you than you.

What I’ve really learned in my 43 years is that the body does not lie; the body actually tells you what’s right and wrong. If you get a sinking feeling in your stomach or a heavy heart about something, you shouldn’t do it; and if you get a lifting, light feeling in your body, you should.

It’s a gut thing. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.

Now, part of that is the Jesuits at Santa Clara, who taught me about right and wrong. But part of it was just that gut feeling.

I always chose to surround myself with good people no matter my career. I picked teachers and mentors who promised me a hard life.

The culture in the East is a little bit strange to me. People are too nice, they’re very obedient and do not challenge authority. I think you should be a little more chaotic, rude and daring.

Diversifying means going abroad…Be in another culture, speak a different language, see how other people think. Leave and then come back.

I wanted to be a physician. And I am a physician, so I fulfilled that dream. I did not know anything about science. I did not know what one was supposed to do in science. I wanted to be a doctor, and I became indeed a doctor.

The achievement is not the Nobel, the achievement is the science.

You have to die of something. Let’s say we would be able to cure cancer, or Alzheimer, or cardiovascular diseases. And then what? Should we be young forever or healthy forever?