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Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, is expected to announce his resignation on Tuesday and will step down by the end of 2021, according to reports.
The 71-year-old medical geneticist, who oversaw the research center for 12 years, aims to return to the National Human Genome Research Institute, the Washington Post reported. The lab is a branch of the NIH.
The NIH did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News seeking comment. The newspaper, citing an NIH official, reported that the agency does not have an interim director to replace Collins.
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Collins brought the acclaimed Human Genome Project to fruition in 2003, and in recent months has worked to accelerate treatments for the coronavirus. In August, he appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and highlighted the highly contagious nature of the Delta variant, while acknowledging that vaccines are generally effective against it.
Collins went on to say that although infections from vaccinated people are rare and do not pose significant risks to those people themselves, vaccinated people who catch it can pass it on to others. This is, he explained, why the CDC recommends that people in areas with high transmission resume wearing masks indoors, even if they are vaccinated.
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“This is the best way to stop the transmission of this very contagious virus,” he said.
Ronn Blitzer of Fox News and Associated Press contributed to this report
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