NIH director speaks ‘Language of God’

Taking a high-level government job often means making a financial sacrifice in the name of the common good.

It was something Dr. Francis S. Collins, the new director of the National Institutes of Health, already had done even before his nomination to head the Bethesda-based agency. And that last time around, it led to perhaps the greatest triumph of his professional career.

When Dr. Collins was approached for government service in 1993 by then-NIH director Dr. Bernadine Healy, the geneticist-professor earlier had discovered the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis and other hereditary disease-markers while working with a team at the University of Michigan.

But Dr. Healy beat the odds, recruiting him to become the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH by appealing to his altruism to accept the big salary cut. And in less than a decade — ahead of schedule and under budget — Dr. Collins, rival biologist Craig Venter and President Clinton announced in June 2000 that a working draft of the human genome was complete.

“I knew he had a missionary heart,” Dr. Healy said in a recent telephone interview. “My view of NIH at the time was we were working on a strategic plan doing great science on behalf of human health. … NIH has positively affected the life of every man, woman and child in this country more than once.”

That missionary heart also led to the one point of controversy over his appointment by President Obama.

The evangelical Christian wrote a 2006 best-seller “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief” and founded in 2009 the BioLogos Foundation to reconcile and defuse conflicting views between science and religion, which led to considerable criticism of the nomination in some liberal and anti-religious news outlets. The White House put wraps on him in the month since his July 8 nomination, declining to make Dr. Collins available for an interview.

In the end, Dr. Collins was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Aug. 7, an indication that the criticism never gained mainstream traction. Perhaps relatedly, those who know and have worked with Dr. Collins and spoke to The Washington Times about him had naught but good to say, even people who do not share his religious views.

They describe the lanky 59-year-old scientist as genial, outgoing and inspirational.

“A man of great confidence, but there is a humility that is charming,” according to Dr. Healy.

A guitar player and motorcycle rider, he has been known to compose and perform songs instead of speeches at college commencement ceremonies. In one instance, he turned the main hook of a Frank Sinatra classic from “I did it my way” to “You did it their way,” summarizing some of the constraints of academic life to cheer on graduates.

“He is upbeat, optimistic and highly addicted to all aspects of science … an important leader in moving from sequencing the genome to thinking about how the genetics of various diseases might be pursued,” said Alan I. Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a former head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “This is a guy of tremendous creativity, vision and enough charisma to mobilize large segments of the scientific community.”

David Baltimore, a professor of biology and 1975 Nobel Laureate for Medicine, spoke similarly, saying, “You think of scientists as more controlled and dour; he is outgoing and personable.”

But on religion, “our views are quite apart. We don’t go there,” Mr. Baltimore said, admitting he has not read Dr. Collins’ best-seller. “I’ve never actually had a discussion with him” on that topic.

The seeds of that particular mission had been planted in Dr. Collins long ago when, as a practicing physician in North Carolina in his late 20s, he came across “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis and was impressed by the Oxford don’s concept of a moral law.

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