Dr. Collins is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Cardiology and the Vice Chair of Faculty and Academic Affairs in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. He completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Tennessee Technological University. He then completed medical school at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and then completed his residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Thereafter, he completed Pediatric Cardiology fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and remained there for an advanced fellowship in Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Non-invasive Imaging. Dr. Collins is an international expert in the cardiovascular abnormalities of Williams syndrome and a nationally recognized expert in genetically mediated aortopathies and arteriopathies, as well as adult congenital heart disease. His research has principally focused on these populations but has also included numerous studies in congenital heart disease more broadly. His work has covered the gamut of scientific inquiry from basic to clinical studies, whether in using ELN knockout mouse, computational fluid dynamics, developing new imaging methodologies, or analyses of large population.

In addition to quantitative biomedical scientific studies, more recently, following his completion of a Master’s of Science in Leadership at the Citadel, Dr. Collins has been conducting quantitative and qualitative studies of leadership. These studies have included the development of the Leadership/Management Concept Scale, a scale to differentiate leadership and management, investigating physicians’ understanding of leadership, and studying success in academic medical careers and the factors that contribute to it. Most recently, he has interviewed 51 retired Four-Star Admirals and Generals investigating their key lessons for leadership success. From that, he has written The Four Stars of Leadership. With the help of stories from the Four-Stars that are sometimes shocking, often moving, and always instructive, The Four Stars of Leadership delivers a simple and memorable framework based on time-tested principles that anyone can use to become a better leader. A byproduct of this work has been Dr. Collins’ launch of his podcast, The Science of Leadership, where he shares with listeners vital leadership lessons and the science that underpins them during conversations with accomplished leaders. He is currently enrolled in a PhD program concentrating on educational leadership. His dissertation work involves developing a validated leadership assessment instrument based on his own leadership research among academic physicians and Four-Star Generals and Admirals.

Dr. Collins’ career goals center on helping others build their capabilities and accomplish great things. He has dedicated himself to becoming an authority on leadership and sees himself pursuing increasing levels of leadership where he can exercise his capabilities and help others better develop their own.