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Francis Collins

Former Director, National Institutes of Health

Francis Collins is a physician-scientist. Under his direction, the Human Genome Project produced the first finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book in 2003. From 2009 to 2021, Collins served under three Presidents as the Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world. His contributions to science, medicine, and society have been recognized by the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, and the Templeton Prize. 

His most recent book is The Road To Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust (Little, Brown and Worthy, 2024; see francisscollins.com). He is the founder of a new initiative called Discovery Lives in Us that aims to collect and distribute hundreds of authentic patient narratives about the value of medical research.

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