Trump says he's keeping Francis Collins as NIH director
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he's keeping Dr. Francis Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health.
Collins is a pioneer in the field of genetics who has directed the NIH since August 2009, after successfully leading the nation's effort to map the human genome. He was among several dozen Obama administration officials who Trump aides had asked to stay in their jobs — at least temporarily — for the purpose of continuity.
Trump made the announcement about Collins on Tuesday.
The NIH is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services and is made up of 27 different institutes and centers. It's also known as the nation's medical research agency.
Last year, Collins kicked off an effort to create a one-million-person health information database by 2019 as part of the Precision Medicine Initiative announced by President Obama. Collins said the goal is to develop more targeted, "not one-size-fits-all" treatments for diseases like cancer, as well as preventive strategies to help keep Americans well.
"This would be a great opportunity to find that out, with one million people in the real world who are motivated to be part of research. Let's see what we can do to keep people healthy," Collins told CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.
Trump has proposed cutting the overall NIH budget from $31.8 billion to $26 billion.