Collins, Francis (1950-…), is an American physician and geneticist who directed research to identify and map the location of all the genes that make up the human genome (complete set of genes in a cell). He conducted important research on identifying and mapping the location of genes that cause disease in human beings. In 1989, Collins and his colleagues identified and located the position, on a chromosome, of the gene that causes cystic fibrosis. The team later identified genes that cause neurofibromatosis and Huntington’s disease.
Francis Sellers Collins was born in Staunton, Virginia, on April 14, 1950. He studied chemistry at the University of Virginia and earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Yale University in 1974. That same year, he began to study medicine at the University of North Carolina, receiving an M.D. in 1977. From 1984 to 1993, Collins taught and conducted research at the University of Michigan. In 1993, he succeeded James Watson as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, a division of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this position, Collins oversees the United States role in the Human Genome Project, the international effort to map the human genome.
In June 2000, Collins announced that the Human Genome Project, working together with Celera Genomics Corporation, a private company, had determined essentially the entire sequence of bases in the human genome. The bases are four chemical compounds found in genes. Determining the sequence of bases was a necessary first step in the process of mapping the human genome. The Human Genome Project finished sequencing work in 2003. Collins stepped down from his position at the National Human Genome Research Institute in 2008. In July 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Collins as director of the NIH.
