Posted July 14, 2009
Francis Collins has been nominated by the Obama Administration to be head of the National Institutes of Health. Here’s an excerpt from The Scientist News Blog about the nomination:
‘He is an exceptional scientist, administrator, and communicator’, wrote Association of American Medical Colleges president Darrell Kirch in a statement. ‘His skillful direction of [The Human Genome Project] – one of the greatest technical, scientific, and management accomplishments of our lifetime – is just one example of the expertise he will bring to NIH and its 27 institutes and centers.’
All of that, AND he’s a geneticist! Someone who understands the importance of identifying and understanding the function of the genes that give rise to the proteins and enzymes that drive all the metabolic pathways — fundamental to understanding the causes of neurodegenerative diseases. Exactly the approach taken by Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.
It also doesn’t hurt that Collins has for a long time known and respected the work of several of our Research Consortium members, including Rudy Tanzi with whom Collins was pictured in a recent GQ photo spread to advance awareness and the importance of scientific research.
