A Francis Collins Diamond Jubilee at NYSCF

We opened our 2025 annual meeting with a tribute to—and illuminating public conversation with—a legendary public health champion: physician and scientist Dr. Francis Collins, who for sixteen years served under three American Presidents as Director of the National Institutes of Health. With characteristic grace and modesty, Dr. Collins talked frankly about the challenges he—and the nation—confronted during “the terrible stress” of the 2020-2021 COVID pandemic, “when we got even more polarized and divided and it became harder and harder for people to figure out what was true—when even objective truth began to be a questionable subject.”

NYSCF President and CEO Jennifer Raab called Dr. Collins “America’s research physician extraordinaire and one of the most influential health heroes of the 21st century”. Adding, “we all remember that Dr. Collins served tirelessly as NIH director, but he also notably led the National Human Genome Research Project before and after his tenure there. He was widely and deservedly known as one of America’s most relentless and innovative ‘gene hunters.’ At heart—not unlike NYSCF and its own wonderful team of scientists, Dr. Collins is an explorer dedicated to unlocking the secrets of stubborn diseases and curing them through visionary research.”

Dr. Collins took the stage for a revealing conversation with Dr. Jonathan LaPook, the NYU-affiliated gastroenterologist and Chief Medical Correspondent for CBS News—hailed by Dr. Collins as “the best medical reporter alive today.”

Dr. Collins’ New York visit coincided with his 75th birthday, which he and his wife Diane generously agreed to celebrate with NYSCF at Hunter College’s Roosevelt House. It proved the perfect setting. The onetime home of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, this landmark building on East 65th Street, now a public policy institute, was preserved, restored and repurposed by NYSCF President and CEO Jennifer Raab during her twenty-two-year tenure as Hunter College President. Decades earlier, President-elect Roosevelt and his Brain Trust conceived many New Deal safety net programs—embracing an unprecedented commitment to improving public health—right under this very roof. FDR made sure the New Deal included the building of hospitals, the opening of community health clinics, and something brand-new: government investment in medical research—highlighted by the creation of the National Cancer Institute and expansion of Dr. Collins’ future home, the National Institutes of Health.

During their “Fireside Chat,” Dr. Collins revealed that his musician father had once received a personal letter from Eleanor Roosevelt in anticipation of a concert he was giving in West Virginia in 1936. He also revisited the medical triumphs that the COVID crisis inspired (the warp-speed testing, production, and distribution of vaccines); the controversies it generated to his regret (over mandated lockdowns and vaccination); along with some of the personal lessons learned (including, “the requirement that when we disagree we cannot be disagreeable”). Dr. LaPook lauded Dr. Collins many “gifts” to the nation in terms of scientific research, but above all stressed his “gift of tone—his respect for others.”

Now retired from NIH, Dr. Collins insisted, “I have not worked as hard since 2020.” Dr. Collins highlighted his work with NYSCF to automate the production of pancreatic organoids which facilitate research on the genetic causes of type 2 diabetes. He offered a heartfelt tribute to NYSCF, lauding its “remarkable scientists,” and its innovative, error-free “automated” robotic system. NYSCF in turn thanked Dr. Collins with a special birthday gift—a lookalike bobblehead bestriding a toy motorcycle (cycling and guitar remain this Renaissance man’s extracurricular passions).

Dr. Francis Collins capped this launch of the 2025 NYSCF Conference with a guitar performance that Eleanor Roosevelt herself would have applauded.

Disease don’t care if you are a big New York star

Disease don’t care if you just live in your car

Disease don’t care if you just go with the flow

Disease don’t even care if you are a CEO

 

So come on people, won’t you join me, please?

Let’s get it all together now and knock out disease!