Collins has announced his intent to step down after leading the National Institutes of Health for more than 12 years.

The agency gives an accounting of grantees and staffers penalized for their behavior last year.

Duped into an interview with the comedian, the NIH director caught on to the joke and seized it as a teaching opportunity.

The agency says it has taken various steps to ensure the privacy of participants’ data. 

More than 3,500 scientists had signed an open letter to NIH Director Francis Collins opposing the rules change.

Directors of several institutes testified against proposed 2018 budget cuts.    

President Donald Trump, HHS Secretary Tom Price, and NIH Director Francis Collins discussed the opioid crisis and retaining young researchers in the biomedical research enterprise, among other things, according to a White House official.