Head of U.S. medical research agency to step down by year-end
6:03 pm Tuesday, October 05th, 2021
(Reuters) -Francis Collins, director of U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), said on Tuesday https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/francis-collins-step-down-director-national-institutes-health he would step down from his role by the end of the year, after leading the medical research agency for 12 years.
Collins, a genetics pioneer, was appointed as the head of NIH in 2009 by then-President Barack Obama, and he went on to serve the agency under three presidents.
“Twelve years is a long time,” Collins, 71, said in an interview with Fox News Channel. “No other NIH director has stayed in this job even close to that. … It’s time for new leadership, new vision.”
“NIH is in a good place right now,” said Collins, who has been one of the leading figures in the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said he was not worried that the fight against the pandemic would lose momentum by his stepping down.
His decision gives President Joe Biden ample time to find a new director, who would have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Collins said.
Collins joined the NIH in 1993 and helped lead work that identified genes associated with Type 2 diabetes.
He worked at NIH until May 2008 then left to pursue writing projects, before being appointed director. Then- President Donald Trump in 2017 and Biden in 2021 asked him to continue in the role.
(Reporting by Dania Nadeem in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Cynthia Osterman)
