Research interview with Robert Kamen

2026-03-05T14:19:06-05:00

Robert Kamen was born in Brooklyn, New York, but was raised in Queens. His father was a stockbroker, and his mother was an author and homemaker. Kamen was interested in science from an early age, working in a lab cleaning pipettes at the age of twelve. He attended Amherst College in the early sixties where he majored in biophysics. After a summer internship working in the laboratory of Harriett Ephrussi-Taylor, Kamen attended Harvard University for his PhD, working on purifying phage enzymes in James Watson and Walter Gilbert’s lab. After receiving his PhD, Kamen worked with Charles Weissmann on Q beta replicase before moving on to Imperial Cancer Research Lab in 1971, where he was the head of the transcription lab. Kamen then joined Genetics Institute [GI]. At GI, he managed a lab and started project management groups for new research, such as into factor VIII. By the late eighties, Kamen had become burned out by his work at GI and was let go, after which he worked briefly as a visiting scientist at Whitehead Institute. After being contacted by Robert Weinberg, Kamen began working as the president of BASF Bioresearch’s US division, as BASF Bioresearch was planning on building a new facility in Worcester, Massachusetts. While working for BASF Bioresearch, Kamen oversaw the development of Humira. Kamen was later tasked with selling the company’s pharmaceutical division, which went to Abbott Laboratories. While Kamen stayed on with the company, working for Abbott Laboratories required him to required constant contact with and travel to the company’s offices in Chicago, Illinois. Growing tired of constant travel, Kamen helped the company look for a successor for him, after which he retired.