Francis Sellers Collins ForMemRS (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project.

Collins has written books on science, medicine, and religion, including the New York Times bestseller The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

[18] 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.

They included isolation of the genes for Huntington's disease,[22] neurofibromatosis,[23][24] multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1,[25] inv(16) AML[26] and Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome.

[30] In June 2000 Collins was joined by President Bill Clinton and biologist Craig Venter in making the announcement of a working draft of the human genome.

"[32][33][34] 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 and Francis Crick's publication of the structure of DNA.

[38] Building on his own experiences as a physician volunteer in a rural missionary hospital in Nigeria,[39] 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 (H3Africa) to advance African capacity and expertise in genomic science.

[40] Collins announced his resignation as NHGRI director on May 28, 2008, but has continued to lead an active lab there with a research focus[41] on progeria and type 2 diabetes.

[42] On July 8, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health,[43] and the Senate unanimously confirmed him for the post.

[1] Science 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."

[44] Washington Post staffer David Brown wrote that Collins's status as a "born-again Christian ... may help him build bridges with those who view some gene-based research as a potential threat to religious values.

"[45] Collins's appointment was welcomed by the chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,[45] and by Bernadine Healy, the former head of the National Institutes of Health.

[46] In October 2009, shortly after his appointment as NIH director, Collins stated in an interview in The New York Times: "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.

"[47] On October 1, 2009, 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.

[50] 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.

"[51] In October 2020, Collins criticized the Great Barrington Declaration's "focused protection" herd immunity strategy, calling it "a fringe component of epidemiology.

"[52] 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.

"[53][54] The Wall Street Journal's editorial board accused Collins of "work[ing] with the media to trash the Great Barrington Declaration" and of "Shut[ting] Down Covid Debate".

[58] Other projects he took on early in his tenure included increased support for Alzheimer's disease research, which was announced in May 2012;[59] 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, 10 biopharmaceutical firms, and multiple non-profit organizations.

[63] In January 2015, President Obama announced the NIH-led Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), later renamed the All of Us Research Program, in his State of the Union address.

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.

[63] 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.

Lyrics of the Directors' songs included spoofs of rock and gospel classics re-written to address the challenges of contemporary biomedical research.

[86] Sound Health aims to expand current knowledge and explore ways to enhance the potential for music as therapy for neurological and other disorders.

He familiarized himself with the evidence for and against God in cosmology, and on the recommendation of a Methodist minister used Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis as a foundation to develop his religious views.

[37] 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 and intelligent design.

[114] 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.