Title: Retired Statistician, Director
Company: Department of Veteran Affairs
Location: Bel Air, Maryland, United States
Joseph F. Collins, ScD, Retired Statistician and Director at the Department of Veteran Affairs, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership in biostatistics.
Upon receiving a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Drexel University in 1970, Dr. Collins pondered what avenues of his major he could pursue outside of teaching and computing, and eventually settled on biostatistics. From there, he went on to matriculate at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a Master of Science in 1972 and a Doctor of Science in 1974. Shortly thereafter, in 1975, Dr. Collins joined the Department of Veterans Affairs Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center, where he remained for the entirety of his career until retiring as director in 2019. Additionally, he has been a biostatistician for the ROOBY clinical trial, a multicenter clinical trial of CABG heart surgery, since 2000 and has produced more than 20 published manuscripts.
Reflecting on his illustrious career, Dr. Collins considers his greatest achievement was his inter-agency agreement with the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as conducting a study on how to handle mental health in hospitals, which is still referenced and read worldwide. In addition, Dr. Collins is also proud of being the primary bio-statistician on a number of studies on epilepsy and conducting a heart study with the drug Warfarin. He found this experience particularly amusing because he had trouble getting the study published, so he decided to write it and the paper was named Circulation’s Paper of the Year in 2009. To attest to his legacy, Dr. Collins can also be found in the 66th through 70th editions of Who’s Who in America.
To remain abreast of his industry, Dr. Collins maintains affiliation with the Society for Clinical Trials as a fellow, member and retired treasurer. Having seen the industry grow in terms of the quality, rules and regulations of clinical trials, he thanks his mentors Dr. Carol Redmond and C. James Klett for the exceptional foundation they taught him. Outside of his primary career ventures, Dr. Collins was a recreation soccer coach for eight years and a baseball coach for 16 years, as well as a volunteer to the Baltimore Research & Education Foundation. He looks forward to commencing his retirement within the next five years, as well as continuing to enjoy his hobbies of fishing and visiting national parks and historical sites.
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