President Joe Biden announced on May 15 that he would nominate cancer specialist Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to be the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The nominee would be replacing former NIH director Dr. Francis Collins, who held the post for 12 years before stepping down in December 2021, and acting director Dr. Lawrence Tabak, who stepped in for Collins.
Bertagnolli is a cancer doctor and researcher who last year became the first female director of the National Cancer Institute.
If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the second woman to hold the position of permanent director of the NIH, which is one of the world’s foremost biomedical research institutions.
“Dr. Bertagnolli has spent her career pioneering scientific discovery and pushing the boundaries of what is possible to improve cancer prevention and treatment for patients, and ensuring that patients in every community have access to quality care,” Biden said in a statement about his nominee.
Prior to her role as NCI Director, she served as the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery specializing in surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School.
“As Director of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Bertagnolli has advanced my Cancer Moonshot to end cancer as we know it,” Biden went on. “Dr. Bertagnolli is a world-class physician-scientist whose vision and leadership will ensure NIH continues to be an engine of innovation to improve the health of the American people.”
The issue of cancer research is one that Biden has campaigned on, noting on multiple occasions that it was near and dear to his family’s heart due to the loss of his son, Beau Biden, to cancer in 2015.
According to her biographical information, Bertagnolli has been actively involved in clinical and research oncology, with a focus on advancing collaborative initiatives to enhance the data infrastructure for clinical cancer research. She notably served as the group chair of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a member organization of the National Clinical Trials Network.
According to the White House Bertagnolli has also held leadership positions in esteemed organizations like the American Society of Clinical Oncology, where she served as a past president and chair of the board of directors. She has also contributed her expertise as a board member for institutions such as the American Cancer Society and the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
Daughter of first-generation Italian and French Basque immigrants, she was raised on a ranch in southeastern Wyoming. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in engineering and attended medical school at the University of Utah.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
