Richard Gibbs is the founder and director of the Baylor College of Medicine – Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC), as well as a professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics and the programs in Integrative Molecular and Biomedical Sciences and Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine.

The BCM-HGMC was one of five worldwide sites to undertake and complete the Human Genome Project and generated the first comprehensive map of human genetic variation (the HapMap project). The group currently focuses on the human genetics of cancer, heart disease and autism.