STAT: Francis Collins and Marc Siegel say medicine is a gift from God
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Francis Collins
Francis Sellers Collins is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He served as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, 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 ye…
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science · American physician-scientist (born 1950) · geneticist · physician · author · physicist · chemist · human geneticist · also Francis Collins, Francis S. Collins, F S Collins, F. S. Collins, Francis S Collins, Collins
Born 14 April 1950 · Q336658
73 published statements · 0 followers
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Francis Collins speaks on the development of the Covid-19 vaccine
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions · Public domain
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2025· 5 entries
Collins was awarded an honorary doctorate from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, during an on-campus discussion titled, "The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith and Trust
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STAT: Francis Collins blasts Trump administration’s ‘slash-and-burn’ actions at science agencies
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Medical Xpress: Longtime NIH leader Francis Collins retires
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GEN: Former NIH Director Francis Collins Praises the Institution as He Abruptly Departs After Three Decades
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2023· 2 entries
FactCheck.org rated the claim ““The records show [Dr. Francis] Collins and [Dr. Anthony] Fauci got 58 royalty payments for allowing companies to use their COVID-19 vaccines."” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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The Biden administration announced an initiative to eliminate hepatitis C in the United States
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2022· 2 entries
President Biden named Collins the acting science advisor to the president after Eric Lander resigned
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Career landmark: Science Advisor to the President (2022–2022).
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2021· 2 entries
Collins announced that he would resign as NIH director by the end of the year
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President-elect Joe Biden announced his selection of Collins to continue to serve as NIH Director
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2020· 7 entries
Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (2020).
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Awarded North Carolina Award (2020).
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Awarded Templeton Prize (2020).
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Published “The mutational constraint spectrum quantified from variation in 141,456 humans” in Nature — cited 9,225 times.
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Received the Templeton Prize, and was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society
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Under the Donald Trump administration, during Trump's feud with China over the origins of COVID-19
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Published “Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019” in The Lancet — cited 16,054 times.
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2018· 2 entries
Awarded Warren Alpert Foundation Prize (2018).
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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
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2017· 2 entries
President Donald Trump announced his selection of Collins to continue to serve as the NIH Director
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Collins implemented the Next Generation Researchers Initiative to improve the odds for early investigators to win NIH grants
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2016· 1 entry
Collins instituted a number of clinical trial reforms to enhance protection of participants in research and improve reporting of research results in ClinicalTrials
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2015· 2 entries
Won George M. Kober Medal (2015).
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Published “UK Biobank: An Open Access Resource for Identifying the Causes of a Wide Range of Complex Diseases of Middle and Old Age” in PLOS Medicine — cited 12,494 times.
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2014· 2 entries
The NIH provided multi-year grants to EcoHealth Alliance, which studied bat coronaviruses, including genetically engineering bat coronaviruses called WIV1, in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology
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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
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2013· 2 entries
At the White House; and in February 2014 the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP), a public-private partnership between NIH, the U
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Spurred by concerns over the publication of the genome of the widely used HeLa cell line derived from the late Henrietta Lacks, Collins and other NIH leaders worked with the Lacks family to reach an agreement to protect
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2010· 3 entries
Awarded Albany Medical Center Prize (2010).
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Helped establish an initiative called Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) to advance African capacity and expertise in genomic science
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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 Wa
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2009· 8 entries
In the second of his four appearances on The Colbert Report, Collins discussed his leadership at the NIH and other topics such as personalized medicine and stem cell research
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President Barack Obama nominated Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health, and the Senate unanimously confirmed him for the post
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Awarded Philip Hauge Abelson Prize (2009).
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Won Nevada Medal (2009).
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Published “Finding the missing heritability of complex diseases” in Nature — cited 7,002 times.
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Career landmark: director (2009–2021).
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“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.”
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Pope Benedict XVI appointed Collins to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
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2008· 4 entries
Won National Medal of Science (2008).
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But has continued to lead an active lab there with a research focus on progeria and type 2 diabetes
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Collins and Steven Weinberg, a Nobel Prize recipient for physics, shared the Trotter Prize, and discussed the interplay between science and religion
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Was awarded the Inamori Ethics Prize, as well as the National Medal of Science
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2007· 4 entries
Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by George W. Bush (2007).
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Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Miami (2007).
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Collins founded the BioLogos Foundation to "contribute to the public voice that represents the harmony of science and faith
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Was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W
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2005· 4 entries
Awarded ASHG Lifetime Achievement Award (2005).
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Awarded Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award (2005).
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Collins received the William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics
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Collins and Venter were honored as two of "America's Best Leaders" by U
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2002· 2 entries
Awarded Canada Gairdner International Award (2002).
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Awarded Clarivate Citation Laureates (2002).
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2001· 5 entries
Awarded Biotechnology Heritage Award (2001).
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Awarded Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (2001).
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Awarded AMA Scientific Achievement Award (2001).
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From the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Chemical Heritage Foundation
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Published “Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome” in Nature — cited 18,637 times.
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2000· 1 entry
Awarded George M. Kober Lectureship (2000).
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1999· 1 entry
Won Wilbur Cross Medal (1999).
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1998· 2 entries
Won Mendel Medal (1998).
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“intensely uncomfortable with abortion as a solution to anything”
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1996· 1 entry
Published “The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project” in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society — cited 18,867 times.
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1994· 1 entry
Collins founded NHGRI's Division of Intramural Research, a collection of investigator-directed laboratories that conduct genome research on the NIH campus
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1993· 1 entry
National Institutes of Health Director Bernadine Healy appointed Collins to succeed James D
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1992· 2 entries
Awarded Dickson Prize in Medicine (1992).
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Awarded E. Mead Johnson Award (1992).
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1990· 2 entries
“Site Oficial da National Academy of Sciences”
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“Site Oficial do Projeto Genoma”
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1984· 2 entries
Rising to the rank of professor in internal medicine and human genetics
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The two published a paper, "Directional cloning of DNA fragments at a large distance from an initial probe: a circularization method"
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1950· 1 entry
Born 1950-04-14.
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