NIH and surgeon general nominees combine faith, biomedical achievement: Francis Collins, Regina Benjamin
When President Obama named his choices for his administration’s two top medical posts, he chose people of public acclaim whose faith positions may put them out of step with conservative believers—but in tune with White House pragmatism.
Dr. Francis Collins, 59, Obama’s nominee to head the National Institutes of Health, has differed from fellow evangelicals by affirming the theory of evolution and supporting embryonic stem cell research.