Francis Collins life and biography

Francis Seller Collins is an American physician-geneticist, noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project (HGP) and described by the Endocrine Society as "one of the most accomplished scientists of our time". He currently serves as Director of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

At the University of Michigan, Collins the method of "positional cloning" to locate genes within a chromosome, ultimately discovering genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, and type II diabetes. In 1992, he succeeded James Watson as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, and in 2000 announced that the project had sequenced the entire human genome, beating out a competing effort by Craig Venter. As a public intellectual, he has defended his stance as both a biologist and as a Christian apologist, claiming to be inspired by C. S. Lewis, and has debated Richard Dawkins on the merits of faith.

Author of books:

Principles of Medical Genetics (1990)
Coming to Peace With Science: Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology (2004)
The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (2006)
The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine (2010)

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