After a 32-year career at the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., retired from the agency, effective Feb. 28.
The NIH “has been rightfully called the ‘crown jewel’ of the federal government for decades,” Collins said in a March 1 statement (PDF). “It has been the greatest honor of my life to be part of this institution in various roles over the last four decades.”
Collins served as NIH director from 2009 to 2021, spanning three presidents: Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. After stepping down as director, he briefly served as Biden’s science advisor in 2022. He then returned to the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute, where he had served as director from 1993 to 2008. There, Collins led the Human Genome Project, which successfully finished compiling a full human genome in 2003.
Throughout his NIH career, Collins’ research group focused on type 2 diabetes and a rare disease called progeria, which causes premature aging. His group’s work helped lead to the first approved therapy for the disease, Sentynl Therapeutics’ Zokinvy (lonafarnib). Sentynl acquired the rights to Zokinvy from original developer Eiger BioPharmaceuticals in 2024.
In his statement, Collins hailed the NIH as the “main piston of a biomedical discovery engine that is the envy of the globe,” adding that the agency’s employees “deserve the utmost respect and support of all Americans.”
Collins is the latest federal health agency leader to depart since President Donald Trump was reelected and inaugurated for a second term. For example, the NIH’s Deputy Director for Extramural Research Michael Lauer, M.D., left the agency a few weeks ago, while Principal Deputy Director Larry Tabak, Ph.D., retired.
Under the new administration, scores of federal employees have been fired, research grants have been canceled and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has terminated leases for 30 FDA facilities across 23 states.