Joe Biden Nominates Cancer Surgeon Monica Bertagnolli as NIH Director

Monica Bertagnolli (Source: Getty Images)

On Monday, Joe Biden nominated Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Joe Biden released the following statement on Monday:

“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.

As Director of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Bertagnolli has advanced my Cancer Moonshot to end cancer as we know it. She has brought together partners and resources from different sectors to launch groundbreaking efforts in cancer prevention and early detection, a national navigation program for childhood cancers, and additional programs to bring clinical trials to more Americans.

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.”

In an email to her colleagues, Dr. Bertagnolli said she is honored to be nominated by Joe Biden to lead the NIH.

“I am honored that President Biden has announced his intention to nominate me to be the next Director of the National Institutes of Health,” said Bertagnolli in a statement. “I will continue to serve as NCI Director until the Senate confirmation process is completed.”

“As NCI Director, I am privileged to serve alongside so many talented individuals dedicated to ending cancer as we know it, and I remain committed to working together to improve the health of all people. I thank you for your continued support,” she concluded.

More from the White House release:

Dr. Bertagnolli is currently Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the first woman to serve as NCI Director. She previously served as the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the field of surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment and Sarcoma Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Throughout her career, Dr. Bertagnolli has been at the forefront of clinical and research oncology and championed collaborative initiatives to transform the data infrastructure for clinical cancer research. She served as group chair of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a National Clinical Trials Network member organization, and was the Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Foundation Trials, LLC, a not-for-profit corporation that conducts international cancer clinical trials and focuses on the inclusion of rural communities in clinical studies.

Dr. Bertagnolli is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, a past president and chair of the board of directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and has served on the board of directors of the American Cancer Society and the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

The daughter of first-generation Italian and French Basque immigrants, Dr. Bertagnolli grew up on a ranch in southwestern Wyoming. She graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree and attended medical school at the University of Utah. She trained in surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was a research fellow in tumor immunology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Dr. Fauci served as the director of the NIAID, which is a division of the NIH. Dr. Monica Bertagnolli has been announced as President Biden’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health.

Recall, Dr. Fauci announced last year that he would step from his role running the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) after destroying millions of lives.

“I am announcing today that I will be stepping down from the positions of Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, as well as the position of Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden,” Fauci said.

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