Gregg L. Semenza: “It’s important to have people at the boundary between research and medicine.”

Gregg Semenza emphasises the unexpected journey research takes you on, as well as the need for researchers who can cross the boundaries between the clinic and the bench. This telephone conversation with Adam Smith was recorded just after he had received news of his Nobel Prize and his surprise at the news is evident. “Even after people have been telling you for 20 years or more that it’s going to happen,” he says, “No-one expects it.”