Dr. Francis Collins
Dr. Francis Collins was homeschooled until 6th grade when he entered Staunton City Schools. He not only graduated from RE Lee High School (now Staunton High School) in 1966, but went on to attend the University of Virginia to study Chemistry and later attend medical school at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill – both distinguished public universities.
Francis Collins is a physician-scientist whose work has transformed modern medicine. Under his direction, the Human Genome Project produced the first complete sequence of the human genome in 2003. From 2009 to 2021, he served under three presidents as Director of the National Institutes of Health, the world’s largest supporter of biomedical research. His contributions to science, medicine, and society have been recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, and the Templeton Prize. He is the author of six books, including his most recent, The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust. Today, Collins continues to advance his lifelong mission through Discovery Lives in Us, a new initiative dedicated to collecting and sharing authentic patient narratives about the impact of medical research.
Dr. Collins continued his trajectory in Staunton City Schools when a 10th grade chemistry teacher inspired Francis to consider chemistry as an area of study. Dr. Collins has often spoken in interviews of the impact this teacher had on his thinking and on his career. He appreciated the orderliness of atoms and molecules in Chemistry as opposed to the “messiness” of Biology. That inspiration led him to the University of Virginia, where he earned a B.S. in Chemistry.
Dr. Francis Collins is among the most accomplished and widely recognized graduates of Staunton City Schools, and one of the most distinguished scientists in American history He not only led the NIH through three presidential terms, but successfully led it through the Covid-19 pandemic. Collins has long championed the congruency between faith and science, offering a perspective that, “lets non-churchgoers consider spiritual questions without feeling awkward.”