Francis Collins steps down as NIH director

Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health for 12 years, said on Tuesday he is stepping down, capping a career in which he directed crucial research into the human genome and the fight against serious diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes and COVID-19.

Collins was appointed the agency's 16th director in 2009 by President Barack Obama and was asked to remain in that post by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden. He is the only presidentially appointed NIH director to serve under multiple administrations.

He served as director of the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute from 1993-2008 and led the international Human Genome Project.

The NIH said Collins will continue to lead his research lab at the National Human Genome Research Institute. Last year, he was awarded one of the world’s leading religion prizes, the Templeton Prize, for demonstrating how religious faith can motivate scientific research.