NIH Director Francis Collins to Speak at National Press Club February 26 on 'A New Era of Quantum Leaps in Biomedical Research'

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health and recipient of the nation's highest scientific honors, will address the National Press Club at a February 26 Speaker Luncheon.  Topic of his talk will be "A New Era of Quantum Leaps in Biomedical Research."  The luncheon was originally scheduled for December, but postponed because of snow.

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NIH, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the world's largest biomedical research organization and the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research, helping to lead the way toward important medical discoveries that improve people's health and save lives. Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, NIH has more than 18,000 employees on the main campus and satellite locations around the country and invests more than $30 billion a year in medical research.

Collins earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Yale University, and an M.D. with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  An elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, Collins was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama in October 2009.  Two years earlier, President George W. Bush presented Collins with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his breakthroughs in decoding the human genome. 

The NPC luncheon will be held in the Club's Holeman Lounge and will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m. Remarks will begin just after 1 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session. Reserve by calling 202-662-7501 or by e-mailing [email protected]. Cost of luncheon admission is $17 for National Press Club members, $28 for their guests and $35 for general admission.

The National Press Club is located at 529 – 14th Street, NW, near the southeast corner of 14th & F Streets; it is less than two blocks from Metro Center. More information about the Club and its programs can be found on the NPC website: www.press.org.

About the National Press Club

Founded in 1908, the National Press Club has 4,500 members in Washington, DC and world-wide.  Widely-known for its Speaker Luncheon Series and public forums for visiting Heads of State and other key players on both the national and international scene, NPC also is Washington's most frequently used venue for news conferences.  The Press Club conducts an aggressive program of professional education for journalists, funds scholarships for journalism students of color, and operates the nation's only non-academic research library for journalists.

SOURCE National Press Club