Neurological

NIH Director Francis Collins is retiring at the end of the year

HealthDay News – Francis Collins, MD, the senior director of the US National Institutes of Health, plans to step down from his leadership position by the end of the year, the institute is expected to announce Tuesday.

Collins led the government’s efforts to map the entire genetic code of humans 20 years ago, and he is now one of the most respected public health leaders in this country’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington Post reported.

After serving 12 years as director of the NIH, the 71-year-old medical geneticist will return to his lab at the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, The Post reported. Born in Staunton, Virginia and homeschooled through sixth grade, Collins helped discover the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis and neurofibromatosis.

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Collins told the Post that he had decided to step down now because he didn’t want to stay in the Biden administration too long before leaving the position, and he was confident that the NIH’s role in testing, treatment and development Vaccines for COVID-19 was stable. “There comes a time when an institution like the NIH really benefits from new vision and leadership,” said Collins. “That was the right time.”

Collins’ departure as NIH director came as science became heavily politicized and even established medical facts were challenged. “Every problem, the polarization is getting deeper and deeper, the tribes have formed their views, and it’s very difficult to see how we step back from it,” Collins told The Post. He described the political struggles over COVID-19 vaccines and wearing masks as heartbreaking. “I couldn’t have dreamed that we would end up being fantastic, historic [vaccine test] Results, and here we are in October 2021 with 70 million “unvaccinated people and hundreds of thousands dead” as a result of a culture war, “said Collins.” I would never have thought possible in the United States.

An NIH official told The Post that a decision has not yet been made on an interim director for the NIH.

The Washington Post article

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