WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Francis Collins, a renowned geneticist and former longtime director of the National Institutes of Health, announced Saturday that he has retired, leaving an agency being upended by budget cuts and layoffs.
Collins — a guitar-playing researcher and evangelical Christian known for finding common ground between religion and science — gave no reason for his abrupt departure. He issued a statement that he’d been honored with a long career at an agency “rightfully called the crown jewel of the federal government for decades.”
He came to the NIH in 1993 to lead the Human Genome Project, which in 2003 completed mapping the human DNA instruction book — two years ahead of schedule and $400 million under budget, Collins noted in his statement Saturday.
Collins, 74, was the NIH’s director for 12 years and under three presidents — Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Collins stepped down from that position in October 2021 to return to his research laboratory, overseeing scientists studying diabetes and a genetic aging disorder. He also advised Biden on how to combat hepatitis C.
The $48 billion NIH is the largest funder of biomedical research and has long had strong bipartisan support.
NIH employees “are individuals of extraordinary intellect and integrity, selfless and hard-working, generous and compassionate. They personify excellence in every way and they deserve the utmost respect and support of all Americans,” Collins wrote.
In a text message, Collins declined an interview. His retirement had taken effect on Friday.
But his statement defended an agency in turmoil under the new Trump administration’s funding policies and the recent firings of more than 1,000 workers.
“When you hear about patients surviving stage 4 cancer because of immunotherapy, that was based on NIH research over many decades. When you hear about sickle cell disease being cured because of CRISPR gene editing, that was built on many years of research supported by NIH,” Collins wrote.
Early in his career, Collins discovered the gene that causes cystic fibrosis, which helped lead years later to effective treatment for the lung disease. He credited the discovery to an NIH grant supporting his research at the University of Michigan.
Later, as NIH’s director, he oversaw work to understand and fight serious diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and COVID-19, including vaccines against the coronavirus that have saved millions of lives.
Aside from his NIH work, Collins is known widely for writing on the intersection of religion and science.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE- Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), holds up a model of COVID-19, known as coronavirus, during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the plan to research, manufacture and distribute a coronavirus vaccine, known as Operation Warp Speed, Thursday, July 2, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP, File)
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Australia’s newly reelected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Thursday, in a visit aiming to strengthen his country’s economic and defense ties with its closest major neighbor.
Albanese arrived in the capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday evening, a day after his new government was sworn in, to promote the importance of building stronger ties with Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
“That is … a signal to our region of the importance that we place on this region. We will be in the fastest growing region of the world in human history,” Albanese said in an interview last week with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
He described Subianto as a “good friend of mine" and hailed the two countries' close relations.
Albanese’s center-left Labor Party won a second three-year term in an emphatic election victory May 3.
He was welcomed by Subianto in a ceremony at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta where he was escorted by dozens of motorized troops and cavalry while about 3,200 schoolchildren waved the flags of both countries along the streets, according to Indonesia's presidential office.
The two leaders' talks are expected to “produce several concrete agreements that could bring direct benefits to the people of both countries," the office said.
Albanese’s two-day visit is an indication of the countries' strategic closeness. Their discussions will also include food security, energy, trade and other bilateral priorities, Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
Newly elected Australian prime ministers typically make their first bilateral visit to Asia, usually Indonesia.
In his first visit to Indonesia after his inauguration in 2022, Albanese also visited Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province with close ties to Indigenous Australians.
Albanese’s second visit to Jakarta comes amid global economic upheaval sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's “reciprocal tariff” trade policy.
Australia was hit during its election campaign with a global-minimum 10% tariff on exports to the U.S. despite trading with its bilateral free trade partner at a deficit for decades, while Indonesia is subject to 32%. The two countries have for the past month negotiated with Washington for a better trade deal.
Media reports said last month that Russia told Jakarta it wants to base long-range warplanes in Papua, the most eastern Indonesian province, a plan that was raised as a security issue during the Australian election campaign. Indonesia has told Australia that no such Russian base would be allowed.
Given their geographical proximity, Indonesia and Australia have traditionally maintained close ties with each other, including in matters of security and defense, despite the fact that each country has chosen to respond differently to the rivalry between the U.S. and China in the region.
The two neighbors last year signed a historic Defense Cooperation Agreement that will allow more complex joint activities and exercises. Canberra hailed the agreement as the “deepest and most significant” defense deal in the two countries’ bilateral ties.
Albanese will head on to Rome on Friday morning to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV on Sunday.
Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk in Melbourne contributed to this report.
Riders on horseback arrive for a ceremonial welcome for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, left, and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto shake hands before their meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, right, walks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, center, while inspecting a honor guard before their meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, center, walks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto while inspecting a honor guard before their meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
