caption predecessor religion birth_name birth_place president party office birth_date term_start spouse image article_title name alma_mater
collins in 2009 raynard kington -lrb- acting -rrb- evangelical christian francis sellers collins staunton , virginia , u.s. barack obama democratic director of the national institutes of health 14 april 1950 august 7 , 2009 diane baker francis collins official portrait.jpg francis collins
 francis collins university , chapel hill of virginia yale university university of north carolina
francis collins

francis sellers collins -lrb- born april 14 , 1950 -rrb- is an american physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the human genome project .
he is director of the national institutes of health -lrb- nih -rrb- in bethesda , maryland .
before being appointed director of the nih , collins led the human genome project and other genomics research initiatives as director of the national human genome research institute -lrb- nhgri -rrb- , one of the 27 institutes and centers at nih .
before joining nhgri , he earned a reputation as a gene hunter at the university of michigan .
he has been elected to the institute of medicine and the national academy of sciences , and has received the presidential medal of freedom and the national medal of science .
collins also has written a number of books on science , medicine , and spirituality , including the `` new york times '' bestseller , '' '' .
after leaving the helm of nhgri and before becoming director of the nih , he founded and served as president of the biologos foundation , which promotes discourse on the relationship between science and religion and advocates the perspective that belief in christianity can be reconciled with acceptance of evolution and science , especially through the advancement of evolutionary creation .
in 2009 , pope benedict xvi appointed collins to the pontifical academy of sciences .
