Before he stepped down on Dec. 19, Dr. Francis Collins was the longest-serving director of the National Institutes of Health since presidents began to appoint them. Installed by President Obama in 2009, he served under three administrations and during his tenure the budget of the NIH, the leading funder of research related to the health of Americans, grew from $30 billion to $43 billion. He is that rare bureaucrat who is also a career scientist; he was instrumental in decoding the genome and will continue to work at the National Human Genome Research Institute lab at the NIH, which has already had some success in the search for genetically-informed solutions to such health issues as cystic fibrosis, type 2 diabetes and progeria. He is also that rare scientist who is a devout Christian; …