Francis Collins | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Science Advisor to the President | |
| Acting February 18, 2022 – October 3, 2022 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Eric Lander |
| Succeeded by | Arati Prabhakar |
| 16thDirector of the National Institutes of Health | |
| In office August 17, 2009 – December 19, 2021 | |
| President | Barack Obama Donald Trump Joe Biden |
| Deputy | Lawrence A. Tabak |
| Preceded by | Raynard S. Kington (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Lawrence A. Tabak (acting) |
| 2nd Director of theNational Human Genome Research Institute | |
| In office April 1993 – August 1, 2008 | |
| President | Bill Clinton George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Michael M. Gottesman (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Alan Edward Guttmacher (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francis Sellers Collins (1950-04-14)April 14, 1950 (age 75) Staunton, Virginia, U.S. |
| Spouse | Diane Baker |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of Virginia (BS) Yale University (MS,PhD) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (MD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular genetics |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Semiclassical theory of vibrationally inelastic scattering, with application to H+ + H₂ (1974) |
| Doctoral advisor | James Cross |
Francis Collins speaks on the development of theCOVID-19 vaccine Recorded September 9, 2020 | |
Francis Sellers CollinsForMemRS (born April 14, 1950) is an Americanphysician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led theHuman Genome Project. He served as director of theNational Institutes of Health (NIH) inBethesda, Maryland, from 17 August 2009 to 19 December 2021, serving under three presidents.[1][2] Collins announced his retirement publicly from the NIH on March 1, 2025, after 32 years of service.[3]
Before being appointed director of the NIH, Collins led the Human Genome Project and other genomics research initiatives as director of theNational Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the 27 institutes and centers at NIH. Before joining NHGRI, he earned a reputation as a gene hunter at theUniversity of Michigan.[4] He has been elected to theInstitute of Medicine and theNational Academy of Sciences, and has received thePresidential Medal of Freedom and theNational Medal of Science.
Collins has written books on science, medicine, and religion, including theNew York Times bestsellerThe Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. After leaving the directorship of NHGRI and before becoming director of the NIH, he founded and served as president ofThe BioLogos Foundation, which promotes discourse on therelationship between science and religion and advocates the perspective that belief in Christianity can be reconciled with acceptance of evolution and science, especially through thetheistic evolution idea that the Creator brought about his plan through the processes of evolution.[5] In 2009,Pope Benedict XVI appointed Collins to thePontifical Academy of Sciences.[6]
On October 5, 2021, Collins announced that he would resign as NIH director by the end of the year.[7] Four months later in February 2022, he joined theCabinet of Joe Biden as ActingScience Advisor to the President, replacingEric Lander.[8][9]
Collins was born inStaunton, Virginia, the youngest of four sons of Fletcher Collins and Margaret James Collins. Raised on a small farm in Virginia'sShenandoah Valley, Collins washome schooled until the sixth grade.[10] He attendedRobert E. Lee High School in Staunton, Virginia. Through most of his high school and college years he aspired to be a chemist, and he had little interest in what he then considered the "messy" field ofbiology. What he referred to as his "formative education" was received at theUniversity of Virginia, where he earned aBachelor of Science degree inchemistry in 1970. He went on to graduate as aDoctor of Philosophy inphysical chemistry atYale University in 1974.[11]
During his time at Yale, a course inbiochemistry sparked his interest in the subject. After consulting with his mentor from the University of Virginia, Carl Trindle, he changed fields and enrolled in medical school at theUniversity of North Carolina School of Medicine, earning aDoctor of Medicine degree there in 1977.[12] From 1978 to 1981, Collins served aresidency and chief residency in internal medicine atNorth Carolina Memorial Hospital inChapel Hill. He then returned to Yale, where he was afellow in human genetics at the medical school from 1981 to 1984.[13]
At Yale, Collins worked under the direction ofSherman 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".[14] The method described was namedchromosome jumping, to emphasize the contrast with an older and much more time-consuming method of copying DNA fragments calledchromosome walking.[15] Collins joined theUniversity of Michigan faculty in 1984, rising to the rank of professor in internal medicine and human genetics. His gene-hunting approach, which he named "positional cloning",[16][17] developed into a powerful component of modern molecular genetics.[18]
Several scientific teams worked in the 1970s and 1980s to identify genes and their loci as a cause ofcystic fibrosis. Progress was modest until 1985, whenLap-Chee Tsui and colleagues at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children identified the locus for the gene.[19] It was then determined that a shortcut was needed to speed the process of identification, so Tsui contacted Collins, who agreed to collaborate with the Toronto team and share his chromosome-jumping technique. The gene was identified in June 1989,[20][21] and the results were published in the journalScience on September 8, 1989.[22] This identification was followed by other genetic discoveries made by Collins and a variety of collaborators. They included isolation of the genes forHuntington's disease,[23]neurofibromatosis,[24][25]multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1,[26] inv(16) AML[27] andHutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome.[28]
In 1993, National Institutes of Health DirectorBernadine Healy appointed Collins to succeedJames D. Watson as director of theNational Center for Human Genome Research, which becameNational Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) in 1997. As director he oversaw the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium,[29] which was the group that successfully carried out theHuman Genome Project.[30] In 1994, Collins founded NHGRI's Division of Intramural Research, a collection of investigator-directed laboratories that conduct genome research on the NIH campus.[31]
In June 2000 Collins was joined by President Bill Clinton and biologistCraig Venter in making the announcement of a working draft of thehuman genome.[32] He stated that "It is humbling for me, and awe-inspiring to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our own instruction book, previously known only to God."[33][34][35] An initial analysis was published in February 2001, and scientists worked toward finishing the reference version of the human genome sequence by 2003, coinciding with the 50th anniversary ofJames D. Watson andFrancis Crick's publication of the structure ofDNA.[36]
Another major activity at NHGRI during his tenure as director was the creation of thehaplotype map of the human genome. ThisInternational HapMap Project produced a catalog of human genetic variations—calledsingle-nucleotide polymorphisms—which is now being used to discover variants correlated with disease risk. Among the labs engaged in that effort is Collins's own lab at NHGRI, which has sought to identify and understand the genetic variations that influence the risk of developingtype 2 diabetes.[37]
In addition to his basic genetic research and scientific leadership, Collins is known for his close attention to ethical and legal issues in genetics. He 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.[38] In 2013, spurred by concerns over the publication of the genome of the widely usedHeLa cell line derived from the lateHenrietta Lacks, Collins and other NIH leaders worked with the Lacks family to reach an agreement to protect their privacy, while giving researchers controlled access to the genomic data.[39]
Building on his own experiences as a physician volunteer in a rural missionary hospital inNigeria,[40] Collins is also very interested in opening avenues for genome research to benefit the health of people living in developing nations. For example, in 2010, he helped establish an initiative calledHuman Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) to advance African capacity and expertise in genomic science.[41] Collins announced his resignation as NHGRI director on May 28, 2008, but has continued to lead an active lab there with a research focus[42] on progeria and type 2 diabetes.[43]
On July 8, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health,[44] and the Senate unanimously confirmed him for the post. He was sworn in by Health and Human Services SecretaryKathleen Sebelius on August 17, 2009.[1]Science writer Jocelyn Kaiser opined that Collins was "known as a skilled administrator and excellent communicator", that Obama's nomination "did not come as a big surprise", and that the appointment "ignited a volley of flattering remarks from researchers and biomedical groups." She also wrote that Collins "does have his critics", some of them who were concerned with the new director's "outspoken Christian faith".[45]Washington Post staffer David Brown wrote that Collins's status as a "born-again Christian ... may help him build bridges with those who view some gene-based research as a potential threat to religious values."[46] Collins's appointment was welcomed by thechief executive officer of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science,[46] and byBernadine Healy, the former head of theNational Institutes of Health.[47]
In October 2009, shortly after his appointment as NIH director, Collins stated in an interview inThe New York Times: "I have made it clear that I have no religious agenda for the N.I.H., and I think the vast majority of scientists have been reassured by that and have moved on."[48] On October 1, 2009, in the second of his four appearances onThe Colbert Report, Collins discussed his leadership at the NIH and other topics such aspersonalized medicine andstem cell research. And, in November 2011, Collins was included onThe New Republic's list of Washington's most powerful, least famous people. Collins appeared on the series finale ofThe Colbert Report, participating in achorus with several other famous people singing "We'll Meet Again".[49][50]
On June 6, 2017, PresidentDonald Trump announced his selection of Collins to continue to serve as the NIH Director.[51] On 19 December 2017, Collins and the NIH lifted the Obama moratorium ongain of function research because it was deemed to be "important in helping us identify, understand, and develop strategies and effective countermeasures against rapidly evolving pathogens that pose a threat topublic health."[52] In October 2020, Collins criticized theGreat Barrington Declaration's "focused protection" herd immunity strategy, calling it "a fringe component of epidemiology. This is not mainstream science. It's dangerous. It fits into the political views of certain parts of our confused political establishment."[53] In a private email to Fauci, Collins called the authors of the declaration "fringe epidemiologists" and said: "There needs to be a quick and devastating published take down of its premises."[54][55]The Wall Street Journal'seditorial board accused Collins of "work[ing] with the media to trash the Great Barrington Declaration" and of "Shut[ting] Down Covid Debate".[55] On January 15, 2021, President-electJoe Biden announced his selection of Collins to continue to serve as NIH Director.[56] On October 5, 2021, Collins announced that he would resign as NIH director by the end of the year.[7] His last day was 19 December 2021.[2]
Collins was instrumental in establishing theNational Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) on December 23, 2011.[57] In January 2013, Collins created two senior scientific positions onBig Data,[58] as well as the diversity of the scientific workforce.[59] Other projects he took on early in his tenure included increased support forAlzheimer's disease research, which was announced in May 2012;[60] theBrain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, announced by President Obama and Collins on April 2, 2013, at the White House; and in February 2014 the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP), a public-private partnership between NIH, theU.S. Food and Drug Administration, 10 biopharmaceutical firms, and multiple non-profit organizations.[61]
In 2014, Collins worked with the larger biomedical research community to create principles and guidelines to foster rigor and reproducibility in preclinical research,[62] including incorporating sex as a biological variable to ensure differences in treatment response between men and women are addressed.[63] Beginning in 2014, the NIH provided multi-year grants toEcoHealth Alliance, which studied bat coronaviruses, including genetically engineering bat coronaviruses calledWIV1, in collaboration with theWuhan Institute of Virology.[64] The grants were terminated in 2020 under the Donald Trump administration, during Trump's feud with China over the origins ofCOVID-19.[64] In January 2015, President Obama announced the NIH-ledPrecision Medicine Initiative (PMI), later renamed the All of Us Research Program, in his State of the Union address.[65] All of Us seeks to extend precision medicine to all diseases by building a national research cohort of 1 million or more U.S. participants.[66]
In other precedent-setting actions during his time as NIH director, Collins announced in November 2015 that NIH will no longer support any biomedical research involving chimpanzees.[67] In December 2015, Collins and other NIH leaders released a detailed plan that charted a course for NIH's efforts over the ensuing five years. The NIH-Wide Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2016-2020: Turning Discovery Into Health was aimed at ensuring the agency remains well positioned to capitalize on new opportunities for scientific exploration and to address new challenges for human health.[68]
In January 2016, President Obama announced a new initiative to galvanize the nation's research efforts against cancer.[69] Fueled by an additional $680 million in the proposed fiscal year 2017 budget for NIH, the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative aims to accelerate progress toward the next generation of interventions to reduce cancer incidence and improve patient outcomes.[70] In 2016, Collins instituted a number of clinical trial reforms[71] to enhance protection of participants in research and improve reporting of research results in ClinicalTrials.gov.[72] In 2017, Collins implemented the Next Generation Researchers Initiative[73] to improve the odds for early investigators to win NIH grants.[74]
To support the Administration's Stop Opioid Abuse Initiative, Collins launched the NIH HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative in April 2018.[75] The NIH HEAL Initiative bolsters research across NIH to improve treatments for opioid misuse and addiction and enhance pain management. Also in 2018, Collins launched an initiative to address sexual harassment in science and change a culture that sends messages to women and other underrepresented groups that they don't belong in biomedical research.[76]
In October 2021, NIH principal deputy directorLarry Tabak sent a letter to Kentucky CongressmanJames Comer addressing NIH grants to EcoHealth Alliance.[64] Comer, who has held hearings criticizing the use of U.S. federal funds for research related to bat coronaviruses in China, subsequently accused Collins of having potentially misled theOversight Committee Republicans as to EcoHealth Alliance's activities.[64] In 2023, theBiden administration announced an initiative to eliminatehepatitis C in the United States.[77] Collins was the special advisor to President Biden on the hepatitis C elimination plan.[78] Collins's wrote an op-ed in The New York Times on the elimination plan advocating that the U.S. commit the appropriate resources.[79]
On February 17, 2022, President Biden named Collins the actingscience advisor to the president afterEric Lander resigned.[80] He also serves as co-chair of thePresident's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.[81]
After he stepped down as the director of NIH in December 2021, Collins returned to his 12-person research lab at NHGRI. Except for an eight-month stint as the acting presidential science advisor, Collins performed full-time biomedical research[82][83] until he announced his retirement on February 28, 2025.[84] Collins did not give a reason for his abrupt departure.[85]
Collins's love ofguitar playing andmotorcycle riding is often mentioned in articles about him.[86]
While directing NHGRI, he formed arock band with other NIH scientists. Sometimes the band, called the Directors, dueled with a rock band fromJohns Hopkins University led by cancer researcherBert Vogelstein. Lyrics of the Directors' songs included spoofs ofrock andgospel classics re-written to address the challenges of contemporary biomedical research.[87] Collins has performed atTEDMED 2012, StandUpToCancer,[88] The 2017Southern Methodist University Commencement[89] and Rock Stars of Science.[90]
His passion formusic also inspired him to partner with theKennedy Center to expand the Sound Health Initiative, which was announced in February 2017.[91] Sound Health aims to expand current knowledge and explore ways to enhance the potential for music as therapy forneurological and other disorders.[92]
While leading theNational Human Genome Research Institute, Collins was elected to theInstitute of Medicine and theNational Academy of Sciences. He was awarded theCanada Gairdner International Award in 1990. He was aKilby International Awards recipient in 1993.[93] Collins received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement in 1994.[94] He received theAssociation for Molecular Pathology Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics in 1998.[95] He received theBiotechnology Heritage Award withJ. Craig Venter in 2001, from theBiotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and theChemical Heritage Foundation.[96][97] Collins and Venter shared the "Biography of the Year" title fromA&E Network in 2000.[98] In 2005, Collins and Venter were honored as two of "America's Best Leaders" byU.S. News & World Report and the Harvard UniversityCenter for Public Leadership.[99]
In 2005 Collins received theWilliam Allan Award from theAmerican Society of Human Genetics. In 2007 he was presented with thePresidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.[100] In 2008, he was awarded the Inamori Ethics Prize,[101] as well as theNational Medal of Science.[102] Also in 2008, Collins andSteven Weinberg, a Nobel Prize recipient for physics, shared theTrotter Prize, and discussed the interplay between science and religion.[103] Collins received theAlbany 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 (FASEB) Public Service Award in 2017,[104] the Pontifical Key Scientific Award in 2018,[105] and the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize in 2018.[106] In 2020, he received theTempleton Prize,[107] and was elected aForeign Member of the Royal Society.[108] On October 2, 2025, Collins was awarded an honorary doctorate fromWhitworth University inSpokane, Washington, during an on-campus discussion titled, "The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith and Trust."[109]
By graduate school, Collins considered himselfagnostic. A conversation with a hospital patient led him to question his lack of religious views, and he investigated various faiths. He familiarized himself with the evidence for and against God in cosmology, and on the recommendation of aMethodist minister usedMere Christianity byC. S. Lewis as a foundation to develop his religious views. He 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". After several years of deliberation, he finally converted to Christianity during a trip to the Cascade Mountains, where he describes a striking image of a frozen waterfall as removing his final resistance, resulting in his conversion the following morning.[110] He has described himself as a "serious Christian".[38]
In his 2006 bookThe Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, Collins wrote that scientific discoveries were an "opportunity to worship" and that he rejected bothYoung Earth creationism andintelligent design. He wrote that his own belief wastheistic evolution orevolutionary creation, which he preferred to callBioLogos. He wrote that one can "think of DNA as an instructional script, a software program, sitting in the nucleus of the cell."[111] He appeared onThe Colbert Report and onFresh Air radio to discuss his book.[112][113] In an interview withD. J. Grothe on thePoint of Inquiry podcast, he said that the overall aim of the book was to show that "one can be intellectually in a rigorous position and argue that science and faith can be compatible", and that he was prompted to write the book because "most people are seeking a possible harmony between these worldviews [science and faith], and it seems rather sad that we hear so little about this possibility.[114] Collins said he had been aMethodist,Presbyterian,Baptist, andEpiscopalian, emphasizing that denominational differences were not essential to him.[115] He recalled that, growing up, he participated in the choir of anEpiscopal church.[116]
Collins is a critic of intelligent design, and for this reason he was not asked to participate in the 2008 documentaryExpelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Walt Ruloff, a producer for the film, stated that by rejecting intelligent design, Collins was "toeing the party line", a claim which Collins called "just ludicrous".[117] In an interview he stated that "intelligent design is headed for collapse in the not too distant future" and that "science class ought to be about science, and opening the door to religious perspectives in that setting is a big mistake."[114] In 2007, Collins founded theBioLogos Foundation to "contribute to the public voice that represents the harmony of science and faith." He served as the foundation's president until he was confirmed as director of the NIH.[118] Collins has also spoken at theVeritas Forum on therelationship between science and religion and theexistence of God.[119]
Christopher Hitchens referred to Collins as "one of the greatest living Americans", and stated that Collins was one of the most devout believers he had ever met.[120] He 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.[121]
In an interview withNational Geographic in February 2007, writerJohn Horgan criticized Collins's description ofagnosticism as "a cop-out". In response, Collins clarified his position on agnosticism so as to exclude "earnest agnostics who have considered the evidence and still don't find an answer. I was reacting to the agnosticism I see in the scientific community, which has not been arrived at by a careful examination of the evidence. I went through a phase when I was a casual agnostic, and I am perhaps too quick to assume that others have no more depth than I did."[122]
In a 1998 interview withScientific American, Collins stated that he is "intensely uncomfortable with abortion as a solution to anything" and does not "perceive a precise moment at which life begins other than the moment of conception." In the same interview, it was said that Collins also "does not advocate changing the law".[123]
We embrace the historical Christian faith, upholding the authority and inspiration of the Bible. We affirm evolutionary creation, recognizing God as Creator of all life over billions of years. We seek truth, ever learning as we study the natural world and the Bible.
"It is humbling for me, and awe-inspiring," he said, standing at Clinton's side, "to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our own instruction book, previously known only to God." That moment moved Collins -- who is married and has two grown daughters — to talk more publicly about his faith and to write the book. "It's been a bit like taking a public bath," he said.
At the public announcement of the completion of the Human Genome Project, its director, Francis Collins, said: 'It is humbling for me and awe-inspiring to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our own instruction book, previously known only to God.'
Media related toFrancis Collins at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related toFrancis Collins at Wikiquote
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Director of theNational Human Genome Research Institute 1993–2008 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Raynard Kington Acting | Director of the National Institutes of Health 2009–2021 | Succeeded by Lawrence A. Tabak Acting |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Science Advisor to the President Acting 2022 | Succeeded by |