Francis Collins on the Coronavirus

The Atlantic interviewed Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health. This interview is informative. Please read to the end.

NIH Director: ‘We’re on an Exponential Curve’
Francis Collins speaks about the Coronavirus, his faith, and an unusual friendship.

If you are seeking a prayer during this time, you might use this (adapted from the Book of Common Prayer).

O Lord, save thy servants;
Who put their trust in thee.
Send them help from thy holy place;
And mightily defend them.
Let the plague pass by them and have no advantage of them;
Nor the wicked approach to hurt them.
Be unto us, O Lord, a strong tower;
Shelter us in thy wings.
O Lord, hear our prayer.
And let our cry come unto thee.


O Lord, Almighty God, look down from heaven and behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants. Look upon them with mercy, give them comfort and sure confidence in thee, defend them from all dangers, and keep them in perpetual peace and safety; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Francis Collins Marks Ten Years as NIH Director

In June 2017, the White House announced that Francis Sellers Collins would remain NIH director. This month Collins completes a decade as director at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Collins, 69, is one of a few top-level holdovers from the Obama's administration, and he has served longer than any other NIH head in 50 years. Collins has been influential in shaping NIH, with a budget of $39 billion this year, making it the world's largest biomedical research agency.

Francis Collins is an American physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. Under his direction the the Human Genome Project (HGP) was completed in April 2003.This was an international research effort to sequence and map all of the genes of members of Homo sapiens. With this data, scientists are now able to read the complete genetic blueprint for humans.

Francis Collins to Speak at the 2018 ASA Annual Conference

Francis Collins will join us for ASA 2018 annual gathering at Gordon College on July 27-30 at Gordon College. Francis, a fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA), will be the plenary speaker at the Saturday, July 28 event. That evening event will be open to the public.

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is a physician-geneticist noted for his groundbreaking discoveries of disease genes, as well as his leadership of the international Human Genome Project, which culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book.

The Human Genome Project was a global, long-term research effort to identify the estimated 30,000 genes in human DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and to figure out the sequences of the chemical bases that make up human DNA.

Since 2009 Dr. Collins has served as the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world, spanning the spectrum from basic to clinical research. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007, followed by the National Medal of Science in 2009.

Francis is the author of numerous books, including New York Times best-seller, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (2006), in which he describes his own conversion from atheism to Christianity, and presents the case for an intellectually satisfying harmony between the worldviews of science and faith. 

Dr. Collins is also the founder of the BioLogos Foundation (www.biologos.org), which contributes significantly to the science/faith dialog, particularly in the realm of biological origins.

Related reading: The ASA NEXUS Forum; About Francis Collins; Timeline of Human Genome Project Developments; Fact Sheets - National Human Genome Research Institute

Francis S. Collins

Francis Sellers Collins is an American physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. In August 2009, he became the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Under his direction the the Human Genome Project (HGP) was completed in April 2003.This was an international research effort to sequence and map all of the genes of members of Homo sapiens. With this data, scientists are now able to read the complete genetic blueprint for humans.

Collins is a Christian. Here are two excerpts from his book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

“Will we turn our backs on science because it is perceived as a threat to God, abandoning all the promise of advancing our understanding of nature and applying that to the alleviation of suffering and the betterment of humankind? Alternatively, will we turn our backs on faith, concluding that science has rendered the spiritual life no longer necessary, and that traditional religious symbols can now be replaced by engravings of the double helix on our alters?
Both of these choices are profoundly dangerous. Both deny truth. Both will diminish the nobility of humankind. Both will be devastating to our future. And both are unnecessary. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. He can be worshipped in the cathedral or in the laboratory. His creation is majestic, awesome, intricate and beautiful - and it cannot be at war with itself. Only we imperfect humans can start such battles. And only we can end them."

"The comparison of chimp and human sequences, interesting as it is, does not tell us what it means to be human. In my views, DNA sequence alone, even if accompanied by a vast trove of data on biological function, will never explain certain special human attributes, such as the knowledge of the Moral Law and the universal search for God. Freeing God from the burden of special acts of creation does not remove Him as the source of the things that make humanity special, and of the universe itself. It merely shows us something of how He operates."

Related reading: Timeline of Human Genome Project Developments; Fact Sheets - National Human Genome Research Institute