Submitted by Armen Hareyan on May 29th, 2008
As I have said, I think Francis Collins, upon leaving the NHGRI, is well set up to become an advisor to some presidential candidate (not that I would pick him as my advisor if I were running, but alas I am not running this time around).
But if he does not become Obama's science sidekick or McCain's genomics guru, well, there are lots of things he might do. Here are some possibilities:
1. The 1000 genome songs project. He is already further along in this than the 1000 genomes project ...
2. Get a job at Craig Venter's Synthetic Genomics. Hey, Collins says he wants to try something new. And Craig has a history of hiring people who used to work at funding agencies.
3. Sequence Jesus' genome. More on this later.
4. Run the World Anti Brain Doping Agency (WABDA). We need a crusader to run the organization.
5. Start a blog. Hey, there are worse things one could do with free time. Not many. But there are some.
6. Start a genomic information anti-discrimination lobbying firm. Like others in government, he really should try to make money off of legislation he helped pass.
7. Dancing with the stars. He could even sing along too.
8. Start giving talks about genetic inferiority of various races and genders. Or did someone who once ran NHGRI already do that?
9. Try and apply for some of NHGRI's money. Oh wait, he does not run a huge sequencing center, so he may not qualify.
10. Make jewelry out of disk shaped beads. Also known as sequinsing.
Source:
Jonathan Eisen of The Tree of Life Blog 