Director Entertains at Camp Fantastic

Group of children pose outside with Dr. Collins and his wife at Camp Fantastic.

NIH director Dr. Francis Collins (r, rear) and his wife Diane Baker (kneeling, r) spent the evening at Camp Fantastic near Front Royal, Va. Also in the photo is the camp’s medical director for the past 25 years Dr. Stephen Chanock (middle, l), who is director of NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.

Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste

Dr. Collins plays guitar and sings with his wife at talent show.

Collins and his wife perform a musical skit at the camp's annual talent show.

Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste

On Aug. 15, NIH director Dr. Francis Collins and his wife Diane Baker spent the evening at Camp Fantastic near Front Royal, Va. The camp, which has hosted some 2,000 children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses since 1983, is held every August for a week in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At the camp's annual talent show, Collins and Baker sang a slightly modified version of the Carter family classic Keep on the Sunny Side, interrupted by knock-knock jokes that drew an enthusiastic response from the kids.