So now to learn that, to put it bluntly, all of my efforts, and they were serious efforts over, now in time more than a decade, had resulted in a product that would yield returns only to the full members of the institute and not to me, was to say the least, a bit bothersome, and it was at this point that I decided it's time to leave the Wistar Institute. I'm trying to recall the specific events that led to my acceptance of a full professorship at Stanford University, but in any case, there was ultimately a search committee established at Stanford, in California, by Stanford University Medical School, headed by Joshua Lederburg, the Nobel winner in the field of microbial genetics, and a search was made for a full professorship to be appointed in the department of medical microbiology at Stanford.

The result... Without going into all of the details, which are boring, the job was ultimately offered to me, and I was very enthusiastic about it, although I had other offers as well. I was offered the Chairmanship of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Vermont, and as I recall in one of my discussions with David Kritchevsky, with whom I was very close, the argument was made: would you rather be... would you rather manage Philadelphia Athletics, a baseball team that was always one of the worst, or play first base for the New York Yankees? So put in those terms, I decided that I'd rather play first base for the New York Yankees, and I ended up at Stanford.