Francis S. Collins

IN A NUTSHELL:
NIH Director Francis Collins returns to the TEDMED stage to talk about the next big leaps in biomedicine.

BIO:
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. is the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In that role he oversees the work of the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world, spanning the spectrum from basic to clinical research.

Dr. Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and 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. He served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH from 1993-2008.

Before coming to the NIH, Dr. Collins was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Michigan. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007, and received the National Medal of Science in 2009.

Talks
Science Kits

Sorry, there no video available for Francis Collins's TEDMED 2013 talk.

Francis S. Collins

2013
19:25

From discovery to health: Does it have to be a long and winding road?

Francis S. Collins

2012

From discovery to health: Does it have to be a long and winding road? (Francis S. Collins)

Science Kit for Francis Collins

Welcome to all my TEDMED colleagues!

I’m excited that you’re interested in learning more about turning discovery into health. In this Science Kit, I’m linking to some resources that should get you off to a good start in your journey of exploration. To help you navigate quickly, I’ve grouped the resources into three categories: Translational Research, Genomics, and Progeria.

Translational Research. For a scientific article and podcast providing more detail on NIH’s vision for re-engineering the drug development pipeline, go to: http://www.nih.gov/about/director/07062011_translationalscience.htm. For the latest on NIH’s drug repurposing, human-on-a-chip, and other translational science initiatives, go to: http://www.ncats.nih.gov/ncats_research_initiatives/. And to view more super-cool images of the Wyss Institute’s lung-on-a-chip and new gut-on-a-chip, swing by: http://wyss.harvard.edu/.

Genomics. Because I’m a “genome guy,” I might have slipped some genomic jargon into my talk. For help deciphering it, check out NIH’s Talking Glossary of Genomics: http://www.genome.gov/Glossary/index.cfm. If you want a crash course on the Human Genome Project, here’s a great place to begin: http://www.genome.gov/10001772.

Progeria. My lab has published a lot of scientific papers on progeria. Before you jump into those, I suggest starting with this overview, Learning About Progeria: http://www.genome.gov/11007255. If you still think you want to read the papers themselves, you’ll find links to them in the right hand column of that web page. Also, for more on the clinical trials for progeria and the non-profit group that’s helped to make them happen, visit the Progeria Research Foundation at: http://www.progeriaresearch.org/.

This list could go on and on. But rather than bury you under a pile of links, let me leave you with just two more: NIH’s PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/, and NIH’s Medline Plus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus. These online resources will enable you to continue learning about biomedical research well beyond my talk and even TEDMED 2012!

Best regards,

Francis S. Collins