Francis Collins, perhaps one of the U.S.’ biggest cheerleaders for the promise of medical science, announced Oct. 5 that he will be ending his nearly 13-year tenure as NIH director by the end of the year, but he won’t be hanging up his lab coat. The 71-year-old Collins will continue to lead his research lab at the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute.
The March 4 congressional hearing on the budget for the NIH was peppered with questions about the COVID-19 outbreak, although the general sentiment is that the agency will receive yet another boost in appropriations in fiscal 2021.
Francis Collins, director of the U.S. NIH, said in a public forum that his agency is "really bullish" about precision medicine. Precision medicine requires mounds of data to be viable; however, the necessary data may soon be available. Collins said the NIH's All of Us research program has drawn the interest of more than 300,000 willing participants to date, adding that the target enrollment of 1 million should be accomplished before the end of 2022.
Francis Collins, director of the U.S. NIH, said in a public forum that the agency is "really bullish" about precision medicine. However, while precision medicine requires mounds of data, which soon may be available, Collins said the NIH All of Us research program has drawn the interest of more than 300,000 willing participants to date, adding that the target enrollment of 1 million should be accomplished before the end of 2022.