I don't know about you, but it never ceases to amaze me how interactions with just one person can impact your whole life.

My guest today, Dr. Francis Collins, is someone who's had a tremendous impact on me.

We've known each other for a long time more than 30 years. He was actually my genetics professor when I was in medical school.

But years before all that, before he became one of the foremost geneticists and physicians of a generation,

before he helped map the human genome, before he became the longest standing director of the National Institutes of Health,

he was

a medical student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

And that's where he met a woman who quite possibly changed the trajectory of his career

and his life.

I had a patient who was an elderly woman in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that's where I was training.

She shared her faith with me every time she had a terrible episode of chest pain from her cardiac disease.

And one day she just turned and looked me straight in the eye and said,

What do you believe, Doctor?

In his new book, called The What do you believe, Doctor?

In his new book called The Road to Wisdom on Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust, Dr. Collins

explains how that exchange led him to interrogate his personal beliefs and reassess the connections

between faith, science, and health.

On today's episode, I speak with Dr. Collins about this journey, his new book, and why he wants

people to keep believing in facts and science and goodwill. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and this is chasing life.

I read the book. It's a great book. Everyone should read it. In the title, is the word faith.

Yes. And I'm curious, what was your childhood like in terms of faith? Did you grow up in a faith

household? Not at all. I grew up in a very interesting household. My dad was a college professor.

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