On Monday, 15th May 2023, President Joe Biden announced that Dr. Monica Bertagnolli would be appointed the director of the National Institutes of Health.
First Woman to lead NCI
Last year, Bertagnolli was the first Woman who led the National Cancer Institute. The Senate confirmed it. The first director, Francis C. Collins, retired in December 2021 from NIH. The significant accomplishment he achieved was that in his career as a director, he served 12 years under different presidents such as Obama, Trump, and Biden.
Biden picks Dr. Monica as a NIH Director
Biden said in a statement shared by the White House that Bertagnolli is a top-class physician-scientist whose vision will help the NIH to be the engine of innovation leading to the improvement of the health of the American people.
Biden has always appreciated her efforts to advance the “cancer moonshot” initiative. He was first announced as a vice president and later recharged as a president. Biden praised her efforts in front of the marshal partners and resources to launch efforts to prevent cancer.
Bertagnolli’s career background
Let’s rewind and see who Bertagnolli was and what job she was doing. Before becoming a lead of the National Cancer Institute, she was a surgical oncology professor at Harvard Medical School, and a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at a Harvard teaching hospital.
In December, Bertagnolli said she had been fighting breast cancer and was in that early stage where treatments would help her get better. At the time, she announced that she must undergo
surgery but said the prognosis was favorable for her health.
It has yet to be confirmed whether Bertagnolli will lead NIH or not. If this happens, she will be the second Woman to lead the National Institute of Health.
