Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American
physician-scientist
A physician-scientist (in North American English) or clinician-scientist (in British English and Australian English) is a physician who divides their professional time between direct clinical practice with patients and scientific research. Physicia ...
who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...
. He served as director of the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
(NIH) in
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...
, from 17 August 2009 to 19 December 2021, serving under three presidents.
Collins announced his retirement publicly from the NIH on March 1, 2025, after 32 years of service.
Before being appointed director of the NIH, Collins led the Human Genome Project and other genomics research initiatives as director of the
National Human Genome Research Institute
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is an institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland.
NHGRI began as the Office of Human Genome Research in The Office of the Director in 1988. This Office transi ...
(NHGRI), one of the 27 institutes and centers at NIH. Before joining NHGRI, he earned a reputation as a gene hunter at the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
. He has been elected to the
Institute of Medicine
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...
and the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
, and has received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
and the
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...
.
Collins has written books on science, medicine, and religion, including the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' bestseller ''
The 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 of
The BioLogos Foundation, which promotes discourse on the
relationship between science and religion
The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern ...
and advocates the perspective that belief in Christianity can be reconciled with acceptance of evolution and science, especially through the
theistic evolution
Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution), alternatively called evolutionary creationism, is a view that God acts and creates through laws of nature. Here, God is taken as the primary cause while natural cau ...
idea that the Creator brought about his plan through the processes of evolution. In 2009,
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
appointed Collins to the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences (, ) is a Academy of sciences, scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. Its aim is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences and the study ...
.
On October 5, 2021, Collins announced that he would resign as NIH director by the end of the year.
Four months later in February 2022, he joined the
Cabinet of Joe Biden
Joe Biden assumed office as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021, and his term ended on January 20, 2025. The president has the authority to nominate members of his Cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmatio ...
as Acting
Science Advisor to the President
The science advisor to the president is an individual charged with providing advisory opinions and analysis on science and technology matters to the president of the United States. The first science advisor, Vannevar Bush, chairman of the Office of ...
, replacing
Eric Lander
Eric Steven Lander (born February 3, 1957) is an American mathematician and geneticist who is a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School. Eric Lander is ...
.
Early life and education
Collins was born in
Staunton, Virginia
Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...
, the youngest of four sons of Fletcher Collins and Margaret James Collins. Raised on a small farm in Virginia's
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...
, Collins was
home schooled
Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...
until the sixth grade. He attended
Robert 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 of
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
. What he referred to as his "formative education" was received at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
, where he earned a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
degree in
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
in 1970. He went on to graduate as a
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
in
physical chemistry
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...
at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
in 1974.
During his time at Yale, a course in
biochemistry
Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...
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 the
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
, earning a
Doctor of Medicine
A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...
degree there in 1977. From 1978 to 1981, Collins served a
residency
Residency may refer to:
* Artist-in-residence, a program to sponsor the residence and work of visual artists, writers, musicians, etc.
* Concert residency, a series of concerts performed at one venue
* Domicile (law), the act of establishing or m ...
and chief residency in internal medicine at
North Carolina Memorial Hospital in
Chapel Hill. He then returned to Yale, where he was a
fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
in human genetics at the medical school from 1981 to 1984.
Genetics research
At Yale, Collins worked under the direction of
Sherman Weissman
Sherman Morton Weissman is an American scientist and the Sterling Professor of Genetics at the Yale School of Medicine. A mentor to Francis Collins, Weissman elucidated the nucleic acid sequence of the SV40 genome.
Biography
Weissman was the son ...
, and in 1984 the two published a paper, "Directional cloning of DNA fragments at a large distance from an initial probe: a circularization method". The method described was named ''
chromosome jumping Chromosome jumping is a tool of molecular biology that is used in the physical mapping of genomes. It is related to several other tools used for the same purpose, including chromosome walking.
Chromosome jumping is used to bypass regions difficul ...
'', to emphasize the contrast with an older and much more time-consuming method of copying DNA fragments called ''
chromosome walking
Primer walking is a technique used to clone a gene (e.g., disease gene) from its known closest markers (e.g., known gene). As a result, it is employed in cloning and sequencing efforts in plants, fungi, and mammals with minor alterations. This te ...
''. Collins joined the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
faculty in 1984, rising to the rank of professor in internal medicine and human genetics. His gene-hunting approach, which he named "
positional cloning
A genetic screen or mutagenesis screen is an experimental technique used to identify and select individuals who possess a phenotype of interest in a mutagenized population. Hence a genetic screen is a type of phenotypic screen. Genetic screens ...
", developed into a powerful component of modern molecular genetics.
Several scientific teams worked in the 1970s and 1980s to identify genes and their loci as a cause of
cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of Sputum, mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably ''Staphy ...
. Progress was modest until 1985, when
Lap-Chee Tsui
Lap-Chee Tsui (; born 21 December 1950) is a Chinese-born Canadian geneticist and served as the 14th Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Hong Kong.
Personal life
He grew up in Kowloon, Hong Kong and attended .
He studied Biolog ...
and colleagues at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children identified the locus for the gene. 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, and the results were published in the journal ''
Science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' on September 8, 1989. This identification was followed by other genetic discoveries made by Collins and a variety of collaborators. They included isolation of the genes for
Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea, is an incurable neurodegenerative disease that is mostly Genetic disorder#Autosomal dominant, inherited. It typically presents as a triad of progressive psychiatric, cognitive, and ...
,
neurofibromatosis
Neurofibromatosis (NF) refers to a group of three distinct genetic conditions in which tumors grow in the nervous system. The tumors are non-cancerous (benign) and often involve the skin or surrounding bone. Although symptoms are often mild, e ...
,
multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1 aka Wermer Syndrome) is one of a group of disorders, the multiple endocrine neoplasias, that affect the endocrine system through development of neoplastic lesions in pituitary, parathyroid gland and pa ...
, inv(16) AML and
Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome
Progeria is a specific type of progeroid syndrome, also known as Hutchinson–Gilford syndrome or Hutchinson–Gilford progeroid syndrome (HGPS). A single gene mutation is responsible for causing progeria. The affected gene, known as lamin A (' ...
.
Genomics
In 1993, National Institutes of Health Director
Bernadine Healy
Bernadine Patricia Healy (August 4, 1944 – August 6, 2011) was an American cardiologist and the first female director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
During her career, Healy held leadership positions at the Johns Hopkins Universit ...
appointed Collins to succeed
James D. Watson
James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper in ''Nature'' proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Wats ...
as director of the
National Center for Human Genome Research, which became
National Human Genome Research Institute
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is an institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland.
NHGRI began as the Office of Human Genome Research in The Office of the Director in 1988. This Office transi ...
(NHGRI) in 1997. As director he oversaw the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, which was the group that successfully carried out the
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...
. In 1994, Collins founded NHGRI's Division of Intramural Research, a collection of investigator-directed laboratories that conduct genome research on the NIH campus.
In June 2000 Collins was joined by President Bill Clinton and biologist
Craig Venter
John Craig Venter (born October 14, 1946) is an American scientist. He is known for leading one of the first draft sequences of the human genome and led the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. Venter founded Celera Geno ...
in making the announcement of a working draft of the
human genome
The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as the DNA within each of the 23 distinct chromosomes in the cell nucleus. A small DNA molecule is found within individual Mitochondrial DNA, mitochondria. These ar ...
. 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."
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 of
James D. Watson
James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper in ''Nature'' proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Wats ...
and
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the Nucleic acid doub ...
's publication of the structure of
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
.
Another major activity at NHGRI during his tenure as director was the creation of the
haplotype map of the human genome. This
International HapMap Project
The International HapMap Project was an organization that aimed to develop a haplotype map (HapMap) of the human genome, to describe the common patterns of human genetic variation. HapMap is used to find genetic variants affecting health, disease ...
produced a catalog of human genetic variations—called
single-nucleotide polymorphisms
In genetics and bioinformatics, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP ; plural SNPs ) is a germline substitution of a single nucleotide at a specific position in the genome. Although certain definitions require the substitution to be present in ...
—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 developing
type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes (T2D), formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent ...
.
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.
In 2013, spurred by concerns over the publication of the genome of the widely used
HeLa
HeLa () is an immortalized cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest human cell line and one of the most commonly used. HeLa cells are durable and prolific, allowing for extensive applications in scientific study. The line is ...
cell line derived from the late
Henrietta Lacks
Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant; August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951) Note: Some sources report her birthday as August 2, 1920, vs. August 1, 1920. was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, ...
, 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.
Building on his own experiences as a physician volunteer in a rural missionary hospital in
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
, 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 called
Human Heredity and Health in Africa
Human Heredity and Health in Africa, or H3Africa, is an initiative to study the genomics and medical genetics of African people. Its goals are to build the continent's research infrastructure, train researchers and clinicians, and to study quest ...
(H3Africa) to advance African capacity and expertise in genomic science. 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.
NIH director
Nomination and confirmation

On July 8, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health, and the Senate unanimously confirmed him for the post. He was sworn in by Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius (; née Gilligan, born May 15, 1948) is an American politician who served as the 21st United States secretary of health and human services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius was instrumenta ...
on August 17, 2009.
[Secretary Sebelius Announces Senate Confirmation of Dr. Francis Collins as Director of the National Institutes of Health](_blank)
7-Aug-09 ''
Science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' 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". ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' staffer David Brown wrote that Collins's status as a "
born-again Christian
To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...
... may help him build bridges with those who view some gene-based research as a potential threat to religious values."
Collins's appointment was welcomed by the
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
,
and by
Bernadine Healy
Bernadine Patricia Healy (August 4, 1944 – August 6, 2011) was an American cardiologist and the first female director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
During her career, Healy held leadership positions at the Johns Hopkins Universit ...
, the former head of the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
.
In October 2009, shortly after his appointment as NIH director, Collins stated in an interview in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'': "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." On October 1, 2009, in the second of his four appearances on ''
The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...
'', Collins discussed his leadership at the NIH and other topics such as
personalized medicine and
stem cell research
In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...
. And, in November 2011, Collins was included on ''The New Republic's'' list of Washington's most powerful, least famous people. Collins appeared on the series finale of ''The Colbert Report'', participating in a
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in whic ...
with several other famous people singing "
We'll Meet Again
"We'll Meet Again" is a 1939 song by English singer Vera Lynn with music and lyrics composed and written by English songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. The song is one of the most famous of the Second World War era, resonating with ...
".
On June 6, 2017, President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
announced his selection of Collins to continue to serve as the NIH Director. On 19 December 2017, Collins and the NIH lifted the Obama moratorium on
gain 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 to
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...
."
In October 2020, Collins criticized the
Great Barrington Declaration
The Great Barrington Declaration is an open letter published in October 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 lockdowns, lockdowns. It claimed that COVID-19 lockdowns could be avoided via the fringe notion of "focused protectio ...
'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."
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."
''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''
's
editorial board
The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...
accused Collins of "work
ngwith the media to trash the Great Barrington Declaration" and of "Shut
ing
Ing, ING or ing may refer to:
Art and media
* '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film
* i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group
* The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes''
* "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...
Down Covid Debate".
On January 15, 2021, President-elect
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
announced his selection of Collins to continue to serve as NIH Director. On October 5, 2021, Collins announced that he would resign as NIH director by the end of the year.
His last day was 19 December 2021.
Projects
Collins was instrumental in establishing the
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) was established on December 23, 2011 and is located in Bethesda, Maryland. NCATS is one of 27 institutes and centers of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of th ...
(NCATS) on December 23, 2011. In January 2013, Collins created two senior scientific positions on
Big Data
Big data primarily refers to data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data processing, data-processing application software, software. Data with many entries (rows) offer greater statistical power, while data with ...
, as well as the diversity of the scientific workforce. Other projects he took on early in his tenure included increased support for
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
research, which was announced in May 2012; the
Brain 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, the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...
, 10 biopharmaceutical firms, and multiple non-profit organizations.
In 2014, Collins worked with the larger biomedical research community to create principles and guidelines to foster rigor and reproducibility in preclinical research, including incorporating sex as a biological variable to ensure differences in treatment response between men and women are addressed. Beginning in 2014, the NIH provided multi-year grants to
EcoHealth Alliance
EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) is a US-based non-governmental organization with a stated mission of protecting people, animals, and the environment from emerging infectious diseases. The nonprofit organization focuses on research aimed at preventing p ...
, which studied bat coronaviruses, including genetically engineering bat coronaviruses called
WIV1, in collaboration with the
Wuhan Institute of Virology
The Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (WIV; zh, s=中国科学院武汉病毒研究所) is a research institute on virology under the Wuhan Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Located in Jiangxia District, Wuh ...
.
The grants were terminated in 2020 under the Donald Trump administration, during Trump's feud with China over the origins of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
.
In January 2015, President Obama announced the NIH-led
Precision Medicine Initiative
The All of Us Research Program (previously known as the Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program) is a precision medicine research program created in 2015 under the Obama Administration with $130 million in funding that aims to make advances ...
(PMI), later renamed the All of Us Research Program, in his State of the Union address. 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.
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. 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.
In January 2016, President Obama announced a new initiative to galvanize the nation's research efforts against cancer. 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. In 2016, Collins instituted a number of clinical trial reforms to enhance protection of participants in research and improve reporting of research results in ClinicalTrials.gov. In 2017, Collins implemented the Next Generation Researchers Initiative to improve the odds for early investigators to win NIH grants.
To support the Administration's Stop Opioid Abuse Initiative, Collins launched the NIH HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative in April 2018. 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.
In October 2021, NIH principal deputy director
Larry Tabak sent a letter to Kentucky Congressman
James Comer
James Richardson Comer Jr. ( ; born August 19, 1972) is an American politician from Kentucky who represents the state's Kentucky's 1st congressional district, 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. A member of ...
addressing NIH grants to EcoHealth Alliance.
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 the
Oversight Committee Republicans as to EcoHealth Alliance's activities.
In 2023, the
Biden administration
Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...
announced an initiative to eliminate
hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include ...
in the United States. Collins was the special advisor to President Biden on the hepatitis C elimination plan. Collins's wrote an op-ed in The New York Times on the elimination plan advocating that the U.S. commit the appropriate resources.
Acting science advisor
On February 17, 2022, President Biden named Collins the acting
science advisor to the president
The science advisor to the president is an individual charged with providing advisory opinions and analysis on science and technology matters to the president of the United States. The first science advisor, Vannevar Bush, chairman of the Office of ...
after
Eric Lander
Eric Steven Lander (born February 3, 1957) is an American mathematician and geneticist who is a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School. Eric Lander is ...
resigned. He also serves as co-chair of the
President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a council, chartered (or re-chartered) in each administration with a broad mandate to advise the president of the United States on science and technology. The current PCAST w ...
.
Return to laboratory research
After he step 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 until he announced his retirement on February 28, 2025. Collins did not give a reason for his abrupt departure.
Music
Collins's love of
guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
playing and
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
riding is often mentioned in articles about him.
While directing NHGRI, he formed a
rock band
''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...
with other NIH scientists. Sometimes the band, called the Directors, dueled with a rock band from
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
led by cancer researcher
Bert Vogelstein
Bert Vogelstein (born 1949) is director of the Ludwig Center, Clayton Professor of Oncology and Pathology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at The Johns Hopkins Medical School and Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. A pi ...
. Lyrics of the Directors' songs included spoofs of
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
and
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
classics re-written to address the challenges of contemporary biomedical research. Collins has performed at
TEDMED
TEDMED is an annual conference focusing on health and medicine, with a year-round web-based community. TEDMED is an independent event operating under license from the nonprofit TED conference.
Background
, TEDMED staff operates from Stamfor ...
2012, StandUpToCancer, The 2017
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...
Commencement and Rock Stars of Science.
His passion for
music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
also inspired him to partner with the
Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...
to expand the Sound Health Initiative, which was announced in February 2017. Sound Health aims to expand current knowledge and explore ways to enhance the potential for music as therapy for
neurological
Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the s ...
and other disorders.
Awards and honors
While leading the
National Human Genome Research Institute
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is an institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland.
NHGRI began as the Office of Human Genome Research in The Office of the Director in 1988. This Office transi ...
, Collins was elected to the
Institute of Medicine
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...
and the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
. He was awarded the
Canada Gairdner International Award
The Canada Gairdner International Award is given annually by the Gairdner Foundation at a special dinner to five individuals for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science. Receipt of the Gairdner is traditionally considered a ...
in 1990. He was a
Kilby International Awards The Kilby International Awards was an award created by the High Tech Committee of the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, in 1990 to boost interest in the area.Anderson, Christopher. "Hagelin & Quantum Theory: Holding on by a superstring", ''Nature'' ...
recipient in 1993.
Collins received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...
in 1994. He received the
Association for Molecular Pathology
The Association for Molecular Pathology (abbreviated AMP) is a professional association of individuals serving patients through molecular diagnostics testing. Founded in 1995, the Association has more than 3,100 members in over 50 countries.
Mol ...
Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics in 1998. He received the
Biotechnology Heritage Award
The Biotechnology Heritage Award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of biotechnology through discovery, innovation, and public understanding. It is presented annually at the Biotechnology Innovation ...
with
J. Craig Venter in 2001, from the
Biotechnology Industry Organization
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) is the largest advocacy association in the world representing the biotechnology industry.
It was founded in 1993 as the Biotechnology Industry Organization from a merger of the Industrial Biotechno ...
(BIO) and the
Chemical Heritage Foundation
The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center.
It was ...
.
Collins and Venter shared the "Biography of the Year" title from
A&E Network
A&E (an initialism of its original name, the Arts & Entertainment Network) is an American cable and satellite television network and the flagship property of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Walt Disney Company ...
in 2000. In 2005, Collins and Venter were honored as two of "America's Best Leaders" by ''
U.S. News & World Report'' and the Harvard University
Center for Public Leadership
The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) is an academic research center at Harvard University that provides teaching, research and training in the practical skills of leadership for people in government, nonprofits, and business. The center works to ...
.
In 2005 Collins received the
William Allan Award The William Allan Award, given by the American Society of Human Genetics, was established in 1961 in memory of William Allan (1881–1943), one of the first American physicians to conduct extensive research in human genetics.
The William Allan ...
from the
American Society of Human Genetics
The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), founded in 1948, is a professional membership organization for specialists in human genetics. As of 2009, the organization had approximately 8,000 members. The society's members include researchers, ...
. In 2007 he was presented with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
by President George W. Bush. In 2008, he was awarded the Inamori Ethics Prize, as well as the
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...
. Also in 2008, Collins and
Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic inter ...
, a Nobel Prize recipient for physics, shared the
Trotter Prize, and discussed the interplay between science and religion. Collins received the
Albany Medical Center Prize
The Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research is the United States' second highest value prize in medicine and biomedical research, awarded by the Albany Medical Center. Among prizes for medicine worldwide, the Albany Medical ...
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, the Pontifical Key Scientific Award in 2018, and the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize in 2018. In 2020, he received the
Templeton Prize
The Templeton Prize is an annual award granted to a living person, in the estimation of the judges, "whose exemplary achievements advance Sir John Templeton's philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest ques ...
, and was elected a
Foreign Member of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
.
Views
Christianity
By graduate school, Collins considered himself
agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
. 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 a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
minister used ''
Mere Christianity
''Mere Christianity'' is a Christian apologetical book by the British author C. S. Lewis. It was adapted from a series of BBC radio talks made between 1941 and 1944, originally published as three separate volumes: ''Broadcast Talks'' (1942), ' ...
'' by
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...
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
In philosophy, a leap of faith is the act of belief, believing in or accepting something not on the basis of reason. The phrase is commonly associated with Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.
Idiomatic usage
As an idiom, ''leap of faith'' ca ...
". 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. He has described himself as a "serious Christian".
In his 2006 book ''
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief,'' Collins wrote that scientific discoveries were an "opportunity to worship" and that he rejected both
Young Earth creationism
Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism which holds as a central tenet that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between about 10,000 and 6,000 years ago, contradicting established s ...
and
intelligent design
Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...
. He wrote that his own belief was
theistic evolution
Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution), alternatively called evolutionary creationism, is a view that God acts and creates through laws of nature. Here, God is taken as the primary cause while natural cau ...
or
evolutionary creation
Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution), alternatively called evolutionary creationism, is a view that God acts and creates through laws of nature. Here, God is taken as the primary cause while natural cau ...
, which he preferred to call
BioLogos. He wrote that one can "think of DNA as an instructional script, a software program, sitting in the nucleus of the cell."
He appeared on ''
The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...
'' and on ''
Fresh Air
''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...
'' radio to discuss his book. In an interview with
D. J. Grothe on the ''
Point of Inquiry
A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to:
Mathematics
* Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...
'' 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
cience and faith and it seems rather sad that we hear so little about this possibility.
Collins said he had been a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
,
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
,
Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
, and
Episcopalian
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...
, emphasizing that denominational differences were not essential to him. He recalled that, growing up, he participated in the choir of an
Episcopal church.
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''. 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". 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."
[ In 2007, Collins founded the ]BioLogos Foundation
The BioLogos Foundation is a Christian advocacy group that supports the view that God created the world using evolution of different species as the mechanism. It was established by Francis Collins in 2007 after receiving letters and emails from ...
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. Collins has also spoken at the Veritas Forum
The Veritas Forum is a non-profit organization that works with Christian students on college campuses to host forums centered on the exploration of truth and its relevancy in human life, through the questions of philosophy, religion, science, and ...
on the relationship between science and religion
The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern ...
and the existence of God
The existence of God is a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion and theology. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God (with the same or similar arguments also generally being used when talking about the exis ...
.
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...
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. 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.
Agnosticism
In an interview with ''National Geographic'' in February 2007, writer John Horgan
John Joseph Horgan (August 7, 1959 – November 12, 2024) was a Canadian politician and diplomat who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2022 and the ambassador of Canada to Germany from 2023 to 2024. He led the Briti ...
criticized Collins's description of agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer t ...
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."
Abortion
In a 1998 interview with ''Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
'', 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".
Books
* ''Principles of Medical Genetics, 2nd Edition, ''with T. D. Gelehrter and D. Ginsburg (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) is an American imprint (trade name), imprint of the American Dutch publishing conglomerate Wolters Kluwer. It was established by the acquisition of Williams & Wilkins and its merger with J.B. Lippincott Company ...
, 1998)
* '' The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief'' (Free Press
Freedom of the press refers to legal protections for public communications media.
Free Press may also refer to:
Publications
* ''Free Press'' (CPBF), the journal of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom
* ''Free Press'' (Malayalam magaz ...
, 2006)
* ''The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine'' (HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
, published in early 2010)
* ''Belief: Readings on the Reason for Faith'' (HarperOne
HarperOne is a publishing imprint of HarperCollins, specializing in books that aim to "transform, inspire, change lives, and influence cultural discussions." Under the original name of Harper San Francisco, the imprint was founded in 1977 by 13 e ...
, March 2, 2010)
* ''The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions'' with Karl Giberson
Karl Willard Giberson (born May 13, 1957) is a Canadian physicist, scholar, and author, specializing in the creation–evolution debate (see Creation–evolution controversy). He has held a teaching post since 1984, written several books, and ...
(InterVarsity Press
Founded in 1947, InterVarsity Press (IVP) is a Christian publisher located in Lisle, Illinois. IVP focuses on publishing Christian books and digital resources that discuss influential cultural moments, provide tools for mental growth through a ...
; February 15, 2011)
* ''The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust'' (Hachette Book Group
Hachette Book Group, Inc. (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagard� ...
, September 17, 2024)
See also
* List of events in National Human Genome Research Institute history
* Science and religion
The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the Ancient history, ancient and Middle Ages, medieval worlds did not have conc ...
References
Further reading
"Dr. Francis S. Collins: On The Trail Of Disease Genes"
''Businessweek''. John Carey. May 9, 2005
"Collins Forms BioLogos Foundation"
''Newsletter of the American Scientific Affiliation
The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) is a Christian religious organization of scientists and people in science-related disciplines. The stated purpose is "to investigate any area relating Christian faith and science." The organization publi ...
''. Jul/Aug 2009
External links
*
*
The BioLogos Foundation
NHRGI Bio
*
*
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Francis
1950 births
Living people
21st-century Protestants
American expatriates in Nigeria
American geneticists
American physical chemists
Biden administration personnel
Converts to Protestantism from atheism or agnosticism
Critics of New Atheism
American critics of atheism
American critics of creationism
Directors of the National Institutes of Health
Foreign members of the Royal Society
Human Genome Project scientists
Medical geneticists
Members of the International Society for Science and Religion
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Members of The BioLogos Foundation
National Institutes of Health people
Obama administration personnel
People from Staunton, Virginia
Physician-scientists
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Protestant writers
Scientists from Virginia
Theistic evolutionists
First Trump administration personnel
University of Michigan faculty
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University of Virginia alumni
Writers about religion and science
Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Science activists