Daniel Carucci, director, Grand Challenges in Global Health, National Institutes of Health

Daniel Carucci joined the US Navy to finance his medical education. But during his service, he found that, rather than an obligation, his military stint opened up opportunities he never would have considered had he not joined (see CV).

Carucci learned to fly fighter jets, became interested in tropical medicine and got involved in genomics. “When opportunities presented themselves to me, I often took them, even if they were not on my critical path,” Carucci says. This month, his path hit a critical junction as he retired from the Navy after 20 years – 17 more than were needed to pay for his medical training – to take on a position tackling global health challenges.

His military stint stimulated his interest in infectious diseases. After training as a flight surgeon, Carucci was deployed for months at a time in Asia, Central America and Africa. On breaks from caring for pilots and their families, Carucci would visit local hospitals and clinics, where he encountered tropical medicine in the tropics.

After he won an award for flight surgeon of the year in 1989, the Navy allowed him to take a master's degree at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he got his first taste of hands-on research. His appetite whetted, he went on to do a PhD.

After Carucci finished this, Steve Hoffman, then director of the malaria programme at the Navy Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, recruited Carucci to the Navy's malaria-vaccine programme. Carucci helped lead the malaria sequencing effort and got interested in proteomics and functional genomics. When Hoffman left for the genomics company Celera in 2001, Carucci took over his post, and branched out into immunology and vaccine research. Both positions taught him how to pick up new scientific fields quickly and to lead large teams with skills ranging from basic biology to regulatory affairs.

In his new job, based in Bethesda, Maryland, the remit will be even broader. The National Institutes of Health's Grand Challenges in Global Health programme will extend well beyond malaria. The job will give Carucci plenty of opportunities to follow his curiosity.