The Host
This week, KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” presents a conversation with Francis Collins, former National Institutes of Health director and White House science adviser.
Collins, the longest-serving presidentially appointed head of the nation’s crown jewel of biomedical research, spoke last month with KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner. He has a new book out, called “The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust.”
In this interview, Collins discusses what may lie ahead for NIH in the coming Trump administration; how he and other science leaders failed to communicate to the public during the covid-19 pandemic; and his work with the group Braver Angels, which aims to facilitate conversations among people who disagree on policy issues.
Click to open the transcript
Transcript: Francis Collins on Supporting NIH and Finding Common Ground
[Editor’s note: This transcript was generated using both transcription software and a human’s light touch. It has been edited for style and clarity.]
Julie Rovner: Hello, happy new year, and welcome back to “What the Health?” I’m Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent at KFF Health News. Usually I’m joined by some of the best and smartest health reporters in Washington, but today we have a special holiday episode for you. Last month, I got the chance to chat with Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health, about a variety of subjects. Regular podcast listeners will know we used some of the excerpts of that discussion a couple of weeks ago, but today we’re bringing you the entire interview. I hope you enjoy it, and we’ll be back with all the news starting next week. So, here we go.
I am so pleased to welcome to the podcast Dr. Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health, and former White House science adviser and former director of the National Human Genome Institute, who led the effort to map the human genome. He also has a new book out this holiday season called “The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust.”
Dr. Collins, it’s so great to have you here.
Francis Collins: Hey, Julie, it’s great to be with you. We go way back on a lot of interesting topics in health and medical research, and let’s get into it here.
Rovner: I want to start with some very basics because we have lots of student listeners and people who know a lot about health policy but less about science. So what is the NIH, and how does it work?
Collins: It is the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world. The National Institutes of Health, supported by the taxpayers with money that’s allocated every year by the Congress, is the main way in which, in the United States, we support basic medical research, trying to understand the details about how life works and how sometimes things go wrong and disease happens, and then carr …