Eric Olson is Professor and Chair of Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA, where he holds the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Science, the Annie and Willie Nelson Professorship in Stem Cell Research and the Pogue Distinguished Chair in Research in Cardiac Birth Defects. In 1999, he was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences and, in 2001, to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy. He has received several awards, including the

more »

... ican Heart Association Research Achievement Award in 2008 and the Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship award in 2016. He has a lifelong interest in muscle development and disease, with a particular interest in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In this interview, conducted at the Society for Developmental Biology's 2019 meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, he discusses his experiences in academia and industry, as well as reflecting on the people and opportunities that contributed to his career.