In 1997, Dr. Leland Hartwell became the new President and Director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Hartwell took over for sixteen-year incumbent Dr. Robert Day.

In 2001, Harwell received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for discovering the universal mechanism that controls cell division in all eukaryotic, or nucleated, organisms – from yeast to frogs to humans. He shared the honor with British scientists Sir Timothy Hunt and Sir Paul Nurse. In 2010, he joined the faculty of Arizona State University, where he directs its Biodesign Pathfinder Center.