Oral History Collection

David Schlessinger

Dr. David Schlessinger is the Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Geneitcs and Genomics at the National Institute on Aging. He studies embryonic and developmental events for the aging for the specialized mammalian cells and concomitant aging-related phenomena. He now has an auxiliary title of NIH distinguished investigator. This oral history follows his love of science that started in childhood to getting his Ph.D. at Harvard University and becoming a professor Molecular Microbiology, Genetics, and Microbiology  at the Washington University of St. Louis. He discusses how his interest in looking at the units of ribosomal DNA from mammalian cells to human cells led him to working with Maynard Olson for the Human Genome Project.