August 20, 1982
Dear Natalie:
I would like you to chair a subcommittee of the Retrovirus Study Group to consider the nomenclature of human retroviruses, with particular emphasis upon the question of how the recent isolates from human T cell leukemias should be named. I would ask Drs. Gallo, Hinuma, Oroszlan, Toyoshima, and Essex to assist you; the resulting report could be very short and would (in my view) be intended principally to establish agreement and consistency among the few groups thus far working with these viruses.
I have enclosed copies of letters exchanged between Kumao Toyoshima and me and a list of addresses of Study Group members. Once you have officially agreed to do this, I will inform other members of the subcommittee. I believe it is very important to have someone knowledgeable about primate viruses and residing outside the US or Japan to head this committee, so I am very eager that you do it.
Best regards,
Harold E. Varmus, M.D.
Professor