United for Medical Research released a video tribute honoring NIH Director Francis Collins, who plans to step down this year.
Collins will continue his research at the National Human Genome Research Institute after this transition. Lawrence Tabak will serve as NIH interim director.
Members of the biomedical research community described Collins as a “trusted voice” who has been able to “make NIH a bipartisan priority” with “great charm and elegance,” UMR officials said.
Collins, a physician-geneticist, is the longest-serving presidentially appointed NIH director, having served three U.S. presidents over more than 12 years. Under his leadership, the NIH has undertaken health issues including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, opioid use disorder, rare diseases, and the COVID-19 pandemic—and the NIH budget has grown from $30 billion
in 2009 to $41.3 billion in 2021.
Collins is known for his commitment to developing and retaining young researchers and working to make biomedical research more accessible and equitable, recently encouraging an end to “manels”—all-male speaking panels.
Leaders from the following organizations participated in the video: Alzheimer’s Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, Corning Life Sciences, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Washington University in St. Louis.
A transcript of their full statements is available here.
