On the subject of Healy's achievements at the NIH helm, MIT's Sharp voiced particular approval on matters involving Francis S. Collins, director of the University of Michigan's Genome Technology and Genetic Diseases Center. Collins has tentatively accepted an offer to become the new head of the multibillion- dollar Human Genome Project--succeeding James Watson, whom Healy forced out. Says Sharp: "I think the development of the human genome initiative, and bringing Francis Collins there, was a strong move by her."
The federal government has admitted in court that the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) improperly closed meetings to the press and public in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). In an agreement filed last month in United States District Court for the District of Columbia, to settle a lawsuit brought by science journalists (Barton Reppert, The Scientist, July 6, 1992, page 1), the government, ...
