Research@UIC

NIH Francis Collins Lecture

Hosted by UIC, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago

Live Webcast (Available on Saturday, April 24, at 2PM)

Francis S. Collins | Lecture Details - Change of Location! 4/5/2010

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., was officially sworn in on Monday, August 17, 2009 as the 16th director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Collins was nominated by President Barack Obama on July 8, and was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 7.

Dr. Collins, a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project, served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the NIH from 1993-2008. With Dr. Collins at the helm, the Human Genome Project consistently met projected milestones ahead of schedule and under budget. This remarkable international project culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book.

In addition to his achievements as the NHGRI director, Dr. Collins' own research laboratory has discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease, a familial endocrine cancer syndrome, and most recently, genes for type 2 diabetes and the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome.

Dr. Collins has a longstanding interest in the interface between science and faith, and has written about this in The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (Free Press, 2006), which spent many weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. He is the author of a new book on personalized medicine, The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine (HarperCollins, 2010).

Dr. Collins received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Yale University, and an M.D. with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to the NIH in 1993, he spent nine years on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Collins was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007. In a White House ceremony on October 7, 2009, Dr. Collins received the National Medal of Science, the highest honor bestowed on scientists by the United States government.

Lecture details:

Dr. Collins will speak to UIC, Northwestern and University of Chicago faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows about his vision of the NIH and his thoughts and reflections on new scientific frontiers. After Dr. Collins’ presentation, there will be a Q&A session. Dr. Collins is particularly looking forward to questions from graduate students and postdoctoral fellows attending the lecture.

Saturday, April 24, 2010
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Thorne Auditorium (Map it) - New Location! (4/5/2010)
Northwestern University
375 E. Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL
Parking garage is available for a fee (there is no discounted parking for this event)

The Thorne Auditorium is located on the 1st floor of the Arthur Rubloff Building and you may enter the building on Chicago Avenue or Lake Shore Drive.

Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors to the auditorium will open at 1:40PM. There will be an overflow room available with a live webcast of the lecture if needed.