Dr. Francis Collins, who has led the National Institutes of Health since 2009, announced his retirement on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 (read story here).
Collins, 71, is a respected expert in the field of genetics, and a renowned “gene hunter” (bio here). He was appointed to head the NIH by President Obama, and reappointed by Presidents Trump and Biden. He has received a number of awards and honors (but not a Nobel Prize).
The NIH, a taxpayer-funded federal agency, is a major funder of research grants to universities and other medical researchers (details here). In 2018, its budget exceeded $37 billion.
The agency sometimes is a lightning rod for political controversies; in the 1980s, President Reagan tried to cut its budget and deny funding to combat the AIDs epidemic devastating gay communities.
Photo: NIH headquarters near D.C.