Samuel L. Pfaff was born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota, a city of, at the time, fifty- to sixty thousand people composed, primarily, of physicians and other Mayo Clinic staff and engineers at International Business Machines (IBM). Dairy farming was a major industry in the area surrounding the city; Pfaff's parents were both raised on farms. His father received a baccalaureate degree in chemistry and went to work for the Mayo Clinic, first as a research technician, but then later on as an administrator of laboratories; his mother was a housewife and then an accountant. Pfaff and his younger brother spent most summers on their grandparents' farm (his brother chose to pursue dairy farming as his vocation) working hard and finding the work very rewarding. He received a public education and felt fortunate to have a fifth grade teacher who recommended him for accelerated academic work and to have a high school biology teacher who suggested he volunteer in a Mayo Clinic laboratory, subsequently contacting Dr. Peter Dyck at Mayo on Pfaff's behalf. In Dyck's neurology lab, Pfaff contributed to Dr. Jeff Yao's research on Wallerian degeneration (the degeneration of nerves after injury); he presented his work at local, state, and, finally, National Science Fairs and because of it also won awards from the U. S. Navy and the state of West Virginia to attend a navy-themed camp in Hawaii and a science camp in West Virginia. He decided to attend a local college for his undergraduate degree, matriculating at Carleton College—a liberal arts school about forty minutes from his home. Dr. Ross Shoger's class in developmental biology proved quite influential and Pfaff chose to pursue a doctoral degree in the sciences over a medical degree. He entered the University of California system for graduate school, studying at Berkeley with Peter Duesberg whose lab focused on how oncogenes function—working with retroviruses, RNA viruses, that could be grown on cells (mostly on chick embryos) which then led to a transformation of the cells and overproliferation—though this was slightly before Duesberg's public claims that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was not the cause of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). From Berkeley Pfaff went on to undertake a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental molecular biology with William Taylor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and then another with Thomas M. Jessell at Columbia University in New York, New York, working on molecular neurobiology and gene regulation of motor neuron development. At the end of his postdoc he moved on to a position at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, researching gene combinations for regulation of motor neurons in spinal cord development. At the end of the interview Pfaff discusses setting up his laboratory; the impact of the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences award on his work; the role of the scientist in educating the public about science; and his lab management style. He concludes the interview with his thoughts on balancing family life and his career; funding scientific research; educating the public about science; the relationship of politics and science; tenure at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; and his professional and personal goals.