Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

"TIME" Chronicles America's Best Scientists

Aired August 13, 2001 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The best in science and medicine this week -- biologist James Thomson, for example, the man who brought you stem cells, is featured, along with 17 other bright lights in science and medicine. It's the second in "TIME'S" five-part series on "America's Best." Christine Gorman is the senior health writer for "TIME" magazine.

Good morning, Christine.

CHRISTINE GORMAN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Carol.

LIN: You know what I loved about this edition is -- you know, because the last edition focused on celebrities, you had Julia Roberts on the cover -- but these are people that we never even heard of before. What's the gamut here of these 18 people?

GORMAN: Well, the gamut ranges from James Thomson, who was on the cover, to Wise Young, a neurobiologist, to Lonnie Thompson -- there were a lot of Thompsons in this. Lonnie Thompson, a climatologist. I mean, it's quite a range. We even have an astrophysicist in the group.

LIN: A whole bunch. And yet, at the same time, you know, every morning we come in and we log onto the computer, we take a look at the wire services and there seems to be a new profound development in science or medicine almost every day. So its got to be a lot harder to pick the best of the best today, because what really stands out about these people?

GORMAN: Well, I think you're absolutely right. I mean, 100 years you would have -- it would have been easy. You would have said Einstein, the Curies, you know, Pasteur, and they would have all been from Europe. But for our series on "America's Best," when we looked at science and medicine, we realized that the people we would pick would not be household names. But the fields that they represent have an effect on our lives almost every day.

LIN: You profiled personally -- you profiled Dr. Ben Carson, he's a pediatric neurosurgeon, and we know him as the man who performed that very difficult surgery on the conjoined twins who were joined together at the brain.

GORMAN: Right.

LIN: What really struck you about Dr. Carson?

GORMAN: Well, Carol, I think with Ben Carson you're immediately struck by how humble he is. And I think that's kind of striking, when you're talking about a surgeon. I mean, surgeons have to have a little chutzpa to use the scalpel in the first place, and certainly, Dr. Carson, neurosurgeon, when you're talking about dealing with the brain, and certainly Dr. Carson, who has also helped to revive a very radical type of surgery where half of the brain is removed in young people with very severe seizure disorders. But he has an extraordinary story. I mean, not only is he a leading light in his field, he also had incredible obstacles to overcome growing up.

LIN: This is a guy who was failing very early in life. I mean, if I had met him as child, I would not peg him as a pediatric neurosurgeon. In fact, I'd wonder whether he would just end up in juvenile hall or behind bars.

GORMAN: Exactly, and I think that's what's so inspiring about his story. He was failing the fifth grade. His mother took things into her own hands and said: "OK, no more TV. You have to write a book report for me every week." It wasn't until years later that he and his brother found out that she could barely read the reports that she was assigning them to do.

And then, when you talk about -- he had an extremely violent temper and as a teenager nearly stabbed a friend who had changed a radio station and he did -- you know, without permission. That really focused him and got him thinking about the fact that he would never become a doctor if he didn't get his anger under control. He locked himself in the bathroom, started reading the book of proverbs in the Bible and came out a changed man.

LIN: That's amazing. Talk about a turning point, and one that involves so personally with his mother. The cover story here, Dr. James Thompson. Talk about timely, to have him on the cover and to have this interview.

GORMAN: Oh, absolutely. When we started selecting our scientists and doctors a few months ago, we knew that stem cell research was going to be very important, that we wanted to include that, that we wanted to include James Thompson. And then with the conjunction of the president's decision last week to allow limited research into stem cell lines, it was just a natural to put him on the cover.

LIN: Astounding.

Christine, here's a challenge for you. In one sentence can you say, when you look at "America's Best" here, what do these 18 people have in common? What drives them to be "America's Best"?

GORMAN: I think an absolute passion for what they do. They really love it and they want to make a difference, either in our understanding of the world or in our actual quality of life.

LIN: You know, when you have a bad day at work, it's a good thing to remember.

GORMAN: That's right.

LIN: Thanks so much, Christine Gorman.

GORMAN: You're quite welcome, Carol.

LIN: "TIME" magazine.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com