Obama nominates Francis Collins to head NIH

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he will nominate genetics pioneer Dr. Francis Collins to head the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Collins, a medical doctor with advanced degrees in chemistry, will head an agency with a $31 billion budget and 27 institutes that employ more than 18,000 people and fund research at thousands of laboratories.

He worked at the NIH until May of 2008.

"My administration is committed to promoting scientific integrity and pioneering scientific research and I am confident that Dr. Francis Collins will lead the NIH to achieve these goals," Obama said in a statement.

"Dr. Collins is one of the top scientists in the world, and his groundbreaking work has changed the very ways we consider our health and examine disease. "

As director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, Collins, 59, helped lead the Human Genome Project that sequenced all the DNA in people.

That race became colorful as Collins's scholarly, global and collaborative effort was challenged by a rival from the private sector, Craig Venter. The pair ended up sharing glory in announcing a working draft of the human genome in 2000.

Collins will have widespread support from fellow doctors and scientists. "Dr. Collins also has a strong grasp of the public policy implications of emerging science and recognized early on that the fear of genetic discrimination could inhibit scientific advances," American Heart Association President Dr. Clyde Yancy said in a statement.