Alexandria, VA – The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) announced Francis S. Collins, NIH, Bethesda, MD, as the 2022 recipient of AADOCR’s Honorary Membership. Collins was recognized during the Opening Ceremonies of the hybrid 51st Annual Meeting of the AADOCR, held in conjunction with the 46th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR), on March 23, 2022.
Collins served as the 16th NIH Director from 2009-2021, spanning 12 years and three presidencies. Prior, he served as Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH from 1993-2008. He currently serves as Acting Science Advisor to President Biden.
Collins, a world-renowned physician-geneticist, is known for his historic discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project, which produced a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book. His laboratories have discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease, a familial endocrine cancer syndrome, and most recently, genes for type 2 diabetes, and the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare condition that causes premature aging.
He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science.
AADOCR Honorary Membership is granted by the three most recent living AADOCR past presidents who are no longer serving on the Board and given to a person who has made significant contributions to and/or supports dental, oral, and craniofacial research.
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About AADOCR
The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) is a nonprofit organization with over 3,000 members in the United States with a mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research to advance health and well-being. AADOCR is the largest division of the International Association for Dental Research which has over 10,000 members. Learn more at www.aadocr.org.