This may only be of interest to you hard-core bio geeks around the site. But I know there's a bunch of you...
Francis Collins, who led much of the US Human Genome Project, is resigning. It comes right on the heels of the actual passage of the GINA legislation--which has actually been signed by the boy prince, and will soon protect you from the misuse of your genetic information by employers and insurers.
Francis is an interesting guy--he comes from a Christian family and became an evangelical, and apparently the family sings, I've been told. He's been heard singing in certain genomics circles with his guitar. One time he even sang for George...at the National Prayer Breakfast.
From the NHGRI (National Human Genome Research Institute) press release:
Francis S. Collins to Step Down as Director of National Human Genome Research Institute
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Bethesda, Md., Wed., May 28, 2008 — Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced his intention to step down on August 1 to explore writing projects and other professional opportunities.
Dr. Collins, 58, a physician-geneticist, has served as NHGRI's director since April 1993. He led the Human Genome Project (HGP) to its successful conclusion in 2003, and subsequently initiated and managed a wide range of projects that built upon the foundation laid by the sequencing of the human genome. Following the precedent set by the HGP under Dr. Collins' leadership, these projects have made their data rapidly and freely available to the worldwide scientific community. Collectively, these projects and their data have transformed biomedical research and empowered researchers all around the world....
More about his work over there....
On the day the GINAlegislation passed the Senate just recently, there was a terrific photo of Louise Slaughter--a kossack poster--who lead this legislation for 13 years, and a beaming Ted Kennedy, and Francis Collins next to Ted. There are more great photos at The Genetic Alliance site. They worked really hard to lobby for this legislation as well.
Some people are a bit put-off by his views about his faith, among other things: Good-bye Frank. But I never saw any of that negatively affecting our work in genomics. I mean--it could have been much much worse. Francis was no Brownie, as far as I could tell.
And I think that's going to be important, actually--we need to make sure that anti-science crazies don't get their hands on this position. That could be a real problem for everyone--impacting the progress of biomedical research. There's no action item right now--but let's watch how this goes. Watch very carefully.
EDIT: I just found a clip of him actually singing. Better than most commencement speakers....