Francis S. Collins announced today that he would step down on August 1 as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. He has led the organization, part of the National Institutes of Health, since 1993 and headed up the Human Genome Project until it concluded a decade later.
Dr. Collins said he was leaving his position in order to write and to explore other professional opportunities. “I may need greater latitude than my current position allows,” he said in a written statement, “to pursue other potential positions of service without encountering any possible conflicts of interest, whether genuine or perceived.”
The current deputy director of the institute, Alan E. Guttmacher, will become acting director while a formal search for a permanent director is under way.
The NIH’s director, Elias A. Zerhouni, thanked Dr. Collins for “15 years of outstanding leadership” and called him “a trailblazer in the scientific community at large.” —Lila Guterman