NEW YORK – Former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins has retired from the NIH, effective Feb. 28.
Collins is the former and longest-serving director of the NIH, having helmed the institutes for 12 years and during three presidencies, until the end of 2021. He was also director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) from 1993 to 2008.
Most notably, Collins spearheaded the US government's effort to sequence the human genome, competing with a private effort led by Craig Venter's Celera Genomics, eventually resulting in several public-private collaborative publications.
"The National Institutes of Health is the world's foremost medical research institution. It has been rightfully called the 'crown jewel' of the federal government for decades," Collins wrote in a statement announcing his retirement. "It has been the greatest honor of my life to be part of this institution in various roles over the last four decades."
In previous work, his laboratory discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease, a familial endocrine cancer syndrome, and, most recently, genes for type 2 diabetes, and the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare condition that causes premature aging.
Collins most recently held the position of NIH Distinguished Investigator at the Center for Precision Health Research at NHGRI.
Calls to Collins' office and the NIH press office went unanswered on Monday morning.
Collins joined the NIH in 1993 after spending nine years on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He holds a BS in chemistry from the University of Virginia, a PhD in physical chemistry from Yale University, and an MD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"I will continue to devote my life in other ways to seeking knowledge and enhancing health, to healing disease and reducing suffering, and to doing what I can to bring together our fractured communities around the shared values of love, truth, goodness, and faith," Collins wrote in his statement. "As I depart NIH, I want to express my gratitude and love for the men and women with whom I have worked side-by-side for so many years. They are individuals of extraordinary intellect and integrity, selfless and hard-working, generous and compassionate. They personify excellence in every way, and they deserve the utmost respect and support of all Americans."