Washington Editor
WASHINGTON - As expected, President Barack Obama Wednesday named Francis Collins, who led the Human Genome Project, as his choice to head the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Collins, a former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) - one of the NIH's 27 institutes and centers - spearheaded the international effort to map and sequence all of the human DNA.
A physician-geneticist, Collins headed the NHGRI for 15 years, before leaving last year to advise Obama on health care during his presidential campaign and to run the Washington-based BioLogos Foundation, a group aimed at finding harmony between religious faith and science.
He authored a book on religion and science in 2006, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, which stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for several weeks.
Collins also recently wrote a book about personalized medicine, The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine, which is due out next year.
While at NHGRI, Collins' research laboratory discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease, a familial endocrine cancer syndrome, genes for Type II diabetes and the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome.
But Collins, who holds a PhD in physical chemistry from Yale University and an MD from the University of North Carolina, is best known for his work on the Human Genome Project.
His team in 2000 revealed a working draft of the human genome sequence, which used a hierarchical shotgun approach. Craig Venter's private firm, Celera Genomics, simultaneously announced it had a draft, which used similar automation and sequencing technology, but a different approach, known as the whole genome shotgun, to sequencing the human genome. The reference sequence was completed in 2003.
Obama said he was "confident" Collins would lead the NIH in achieving the president's goals of "promoting scientific integrity and pioneering scientific research, and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called Obama's choice of Collins "inspired."
"He combines exceptional scientific skill with a deep commitment to the role of science in serving the American people," Kennedy said of Collins.
He vowed to ensure Collins would gain Senate approval "without delay."
Biotechnology Industry Organization CEO Jim Greenwood said Collins brings "impeccable credentials and experience" to the NIH director's job. "His vast experience with government agencies combined with his unparalleled scientific expertise makes Dr. Collins an outstanding advocate for the NIH," Greenwood said in a statement.
As director of the NIH, Collins will be "key" to the Obama administration's plans to revamp the nation's health care system, said Edward Abrahams, executive director of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a Washington-based group devoted to advancing the understanding and adoption of personalized medicine concepts and products.
Raynard Kington has been the acting director at the NIH since October, when Elias Zerhouni, who had headed the agency since 2002, stepped down. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 29, 2008.)