Long­time NIH di­rec­tor Fran­cis Collins re­signs to make room for 'new vi­sion'

Fran­cis Collins is step­ping down from the NIH, the agency an­nounced Tues­day morn­ing, leav­ing a rich lega­cy of re­search ac­com­plish­ments, ini­tia­tives as well as val­ues.

He will leave the post by the end of the year and re­turn to his lab at the Na­tion­al Hu­man Genome Re­search In­sti­tute (NHGRI). A suc­ces­sor has not yet been named.

With a 12-year tenure span­ning three pres­i­den­cies, Collins, 71, has been the longest-serv­ing NIH di­rec­tor. He was first ap­point­ed by Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma in 2009, af­ter serv­ing as di­rec­tor of the NHGRI — which in turn fol­lowed an il­lus­tri­ous ca­reer hunt­ing for genes at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan and lead­ing the Hu­man Genome Project.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER