New Delhi: Francis Collins, Director of the National Institute of National Health (NIH), said on Tuesday he would withdraw from his role at the end of the year, after leading the body for 12 years.
Collins, a genetic pioneer, was appointed as head NIH in 2009 at that time President Barack Obama, and the 71-year-old child continued to serve the agency under three presidents.
“There are times when institutions like really benefit from a new vision, new leadership,” Collins said in an interview with Washington Post.
“This is the right time.” The formal announcement is expected Tuesday from here.
Post and Politico reported Collins’s plan Monday night.
Collins was appointed as Director in 2009 at that time President Barack Obama and was asked to remain at the post by President Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
He was the only director who was appointed by the President to serve under many administrations.
In an interview with the post, Collins said he had decided not to stay too long into the government of Biden and believed that the role in developing therapy, tests and vaccines for the Coronavirus had reached a “quite stable place”.
Collins served as Director of NIIH National Human Genome Research Institute from 1993-2008 and led the International Human Genome Project, which in 2003 reselled the order to become a human DNA instruction book.
In May 2008, he left here to pursue a writing project, before being appointed as the director next year.
Based in Bethesda, Maryland, and part of the Ministry of Health and Human Services, this is the nation’s medical research body and operates more than two dozen institutes and centers.
It claims to be the biggest supporters of biomedical research in the world.
(With agency input)