Speaker

Francis Sellers Collins, MD, PhD is the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).  He is an American physician-geneticist, noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project (HGP). Francis Collins earned a BS in Chemistry from the University of Virginia in 1970 and PhD in physical chemistry at Yale University in 1974. While at Yale, he changed fields and enrolled in medical school at the University of North Carolina, earning an MD in 1977. From 1978 to 1981, Collins served a residency and chief residency in internal medicine at North Carolina Memorial Hospital. He then returned to Yale, as Fellow in Human Genetics at the medical school from 1981 to 1984. During that time, Collins developed innovative methods of crossing large stretches of DNA to identify disease genes that have developed into key components of modern molecular genetics. Together with Lap-Chee Tsui and Jack Riordan of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, Dr Collins has played a key role in the identification of the gene for cystic fibrosis and the isolation of the genes for Huntington's disease, neurofibromatosis, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, and the M4 type of adult acute leukemia. Dr Collins led the successful effort to complete Human Genome Project (HGP), mapping and sequencing all of the human DNA, and determining aspects of its function. All the data collected by the project is now available to the scientific community without restrictions on access or use. Dr Collins is now leading NHGRI’s effort to ensure that this new data is translated into tools and strategies to advance biological knowledge and improve human health. Collins has written a book about his Christian faith. He founded and was president of the BioLogos Foundation before accepting the nomination to lead the NIH. On October 14, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Francis Collins to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science, the highest honour for scientists by US government.