Francis Collins is the former director of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, from 17 August 2009 to 19 December 2021, serving under three presidents, and for over 12 years.
47 Facts About Francis Collins
2.
Francis Collins has been elected to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science.
3.
Francis Collins has written a number of books on science, medicine, and religion, including the New York Times bestseller, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.
4.
On October 5,2021, Francis Collins announced that he would resign as NIH director by the end of the year.
5.
Francis Collins attended Robert E Lee High School in Staunton, Virginia.
6.
Francis Collins went on to graduate as a Doctor of Philosophy in physical chemistry at Yale University in 1974.
7.
From 1978 to 1981, Francis Collins served a residency and chief residency in internal medicine at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill.
8.
Francis Collins then returned to Yale, where he was a Fellow in Human Genetics at the medical school from 1981 to 1984.
9.
At Yale, Francis Collins worked under the direction of Sherman Weissman, and in 1984 the two published a paper, "Directional cloning of DNA fragments at a large distance from an initial probe: a circularization method".
10.
Francis Collins joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1984, rising to the rank of professor in internal medicine and human genetics.
11.
In 1993 National Institutes of Health Director Bernadine Healy appointed Collins to succeed James D Watson as director of the National Center for Human Genome Research, which became National Human Genome Research Institute in 1997.
12.
In 1994 Francis Collins founded NHGRI's Division of Intramural Research, a collection of investigator-directed laboratories that conduct genome research on the NIH campus.
13.
In June 2000 Francis Collins was joined by President Bill Clinton and biologist Craig Venter in making the announcement of a working draft of the human genome.
14.
Francis Collins has been a strong advocate for protecting the privacy of genetic information and has served as a national leader in securing the passage of the federal Genetic Information and Nondiscrimination Act, which prohibits gene-based discrimination in employment and health insurance.
15.
Francis Collins announced his resignation as NHGRI director on May 28,2008, but has continued to lead an active lab there with a research focus on progeria and type 2 diabetes.
16.
Francis Collins was sworn in by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on August 17,2009.
17.
On October 1,2009, in the second of his four appearances on The Colbert Report, Francis Collins discussed his leadership at the NIH and other topics such as personalized medicine and stem cell research.
18.
And, in November 2011, Francis Collins was included on The New Republic's list of Washington's most powerful, least famous people.
19.
Francis Collins appeared on the series finale of The Colbert Report, participating in a chorus with several other famous people singing "We'll Meet Again".
20.
On June 6,2017, President Donald Trump announced his selection of Francis Collins to continue to serve as the NIH Director.
21.
On January 15,2021, President-elect Joe Biden announced his selection of Francis Collins to continue to serve as NIH Director.
22.
On October 5,2021, Francis Collins announced that he would resign as NIH director by the end of the year.
23.
Francis Collins was instrumental in establishing the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences on December 23,2011.
24.
In January 2013, Francis Collins created two senior scientific positions on Big Data and the diversity of the scientific workforce.
25.
In other precedent-setting actions during his time as NIH director, Francis Collins announced in November 2015 that NIH will no longer support any biomedical research involving chimpanzees.
26.
In 2017, Francis Collins implemented the Next Generation Researchers Initiative to improve the odds for early investigators to win NIH grants.
27.
Comer, who has held hearings criticizing the use of US federal funds for research related to bat coronaviruses in China, subsequently accused Francis Collins of having potentially misled the Oversight Committee Republicans as to EcoHealth Alliance's activities.
28.
On February 17,2022, President Biden named Francis Collins the acting science advisor to the president after Eric Lander resigned.
29.
Francis Collins serves as co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
30.
Francis Collins has performed at TEDMED 2012, StandUpToCancer, The 2017 Southern Methodist University Commencement and Rock Stars of Science.
31.
Francis Collins was awarded the Canada Gairdner International Award in 1990.
32.
Francis Collins was a Kilby International Awards recipient in 1993.
33.
Francis Collins received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1994.
34.
Francis Collins received the Association for Molecular Pathology Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics in 1998.
35.
Francis Collins received the Biotechnology Heritage Award with J Craig Venter in 2001, from the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Chemical Heritage Foundation.
36.
In 2005 Francis Collins received the William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics.
37.
Francis Collins received the Albany Medical Center Prize in 2010 and the Pro Bono Humanum Award of the Galien Foundation in 2012, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Public Service Award in 2017, the Pontifical Key Scientific Award in 2018, and the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize in 2018.
38.
Francis Collins believes that people cannot be converted to Christianity by reason and argument alone, and that the final stage of conversion entails a "leap of faith".
39.
Francis Collins wrote that one can "think of DNA as an instructional script, a software program, sitting in the nucleus of the cell".
40.
Francis Collins appeared in December 2006 on The Colbert Report television show and in a March 2007 Fresh Air radio interview to discuss this book.
41.
Francis Collins said he had been a Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Episcopalian, emphasizing that denominational differences were not essential to him.
42.
Francis Collins recalled that, growing up, he participated in the choir of an Episcopal church.
43.
Francis Collins is a critic of intelligent design, and for this reason he was not asked to participate in the 2008 documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
44.
Walt Ruloff, a producer for the film, claimed that by rejecting intelligent design, Francis Collins was "toeing the party line", a claim which Francis Collins called "just ludicrous".
45.
Francis Collins served as the foundation's president until he was confirmed as director of the NIH.
46.
Francis Collins has spoken at the Veritas Forum on the relationship between science and religion and the existence of God.
47.
Francis Collins further stated that Collins was sequencing the genome of the cancer that would ultimately claim Hitchens's life, and that their friendship despite their differing opinion on religion was an example of the greatest armed truce in modern times.