NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Francis Collins has been sworn in as director of the National Institutes of Health, NIH said today.

Collins began his tenure with a late-morning meeting at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., where he discussed agency priorities, NIH said.

Collins was nominated to the post by President Barack Obama in July, and his nomination passed in the Senate on Aug 7.

He will report to Department of Health and Human Services’ Director Kathleen Sebelius.