April 6, 1969
Dear Dr. MacNichol,
I read with intense interest your address to the
program directors's workshop for neurosurgical training
held in Denver Colorado, Jan. 22-24, 1969. I agree
that there is need for neurosurgeons who are better
versed in the basic research areas. My increasing
frustration in clinical neurosurgery specifically,
the treatment of malignant brain tumors, goads me
to assume increasing interest in the more basic areas
i.e. molecular biology where, hopefully, one may find
the solution to this increasingly frustrating problem.
It has reached the point that I am willing to spend
2 or more years as some kind of a fellow in order
to delve into the problem in depth. I wonder if I
could get some advice from you in this regard specially
the where, how and what in terms of fellowship
application.  I am a board-certified neurosurgeon
holding a full time academic appointment at the above
institution. I have had 1 l/2 years research experience
in neuropathology with some electronmicroscopy and
for the past 1 l/2 years, have spent almost full time
working in the laboratory of micro-neurochemistry,
I have in mind working with either Dr. Francis Crick
or Dr. James Watson, the former in Cambridge. I
would appreciate your opinion regarding the matter.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
William Cuatico, M.D., FACS
Watson has recently become interested in oncogenic
viruses so this would be good.  Sidney Brenner
rather than Francis Crick is working on the nervous
system in Cambridge, Bob Spiegelman will be moving
to Columbia in July and is interested primarily in
the cancer problem.  Probably Watson and Spiegelman's
interests are closest to Cuatico's.
You asked me to hold this so you can work it over some more.