50 Most Influential Physician Executives – 2015

Dr. Francis Collins has served as director of the National Institutes of Health since 2009. In that capacity, he oversees an agency that spends approximately $30 billion per year on medical research. Collins, 64, previously spent 15 years leading the NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute, and played a central role in the successful global project of identifying and mapping the entire gene sequence of the human genome. He has written extensively about the intersection of science and religion, including the 2007 book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Collins is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.