Friday, July 17, 2009

Francis Collins is Obama’s Pick for Heading the NIH


Prior to election results, Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., endorsed the soon-to-be President’s take on science and technology in a dignified manner, and now Obama has nominated Collins to direct the National Institutes of Health. This is not to say that the decision, however, is due to support and without merit.

Former head of the Human Genome Project and a significant contributor to the understanding of human health and disease, Collins’ nomination has been well received, particularly by his peers and UNC-Chapel Hill's Medical School where he began his medical career.

When announcing the nomination, Obama displayed his reverence for Collins by stating that his “administration is committed to promoting scientific integrity and pioneering scientific research and [he is] confident that Dr. Francis Collins will lead the NIH to achieve these goals.”

His promising background will probably lead Collins to an even more promising future for the NIH. I mean Collins has only been a leader in sequencing human DNA and only wrote an enticing novel on the “wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith” and only “led work that identified genes associated with type 2 diabetes and the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome.” Only.
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