Health Care

Dr. Joseph F. Collins is a noteworthy biostatistician, who has amassed nearly 45 years of experience in the field. Renowned for his studies and work in the field, he has aided countless patients within the realms of mental health, coronary artery bypass graft surgery and epilepsy. For the entirety of his career, he has served the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Cooperative Studies Program Coordinating Center at the Perry Point VA Medical Center, where he joined in 1975. Retiring from his post as director in 2015, he oversaw a federal government organization that supports multicenter clinical trials focused on health issues affecting veterans, as well as monitors patient safety in study subjects. Playing a poignant role in enhancing patient treatment, Dr. Collins credits his mentors, Dr. Carol Redmond and Dr. C. James Klett, as formative influences.

Alongside his primary responsibilities, Dr. Collins has shared his breadth of knowledge and expertise to a number of civic duties. He served as the treasurer for the Society for Clinical Trials and a volunteer for the Baltimore Research and Education Foundation. Likewise, he was a coach for recreational league baseball for more than 15 years and recreational league soccer for nearly a decade.

Among the highlights of his career, Dr. Collins recalls a study he conducted with the National Institute of Mental Health to be a crowning achievement. Conducting research on how to handle mental health in hospitals, he is proud to acknowledge that the study is still being referenced to the present day and cited across the globe. Likewise, he was the primary biostatistician on numerous epilepsy studies and conducted a heart study on the blood-thinning drug, Warfarin. Notably, the paper he wrote on the findings regarding Warfarin received Circulation’s Paper of the Year Award in 2009.

Furthermore, Dr. Collins has contributed myriad time to writing, editing and researching, having published more than 120 manuscripts including several in the New England Journal of Medicine. Serving on a coronary artery bypass graft surgery study for the past two decades, he has produced more than 25 papers on the subject to date.

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