Biden nominates Monica Bertagnolli as NIH director
President Joe Biden on Monday will announce plans to appoint Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as director of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
Bertagnolli, who grew to become the primary girl to steer the Nationwide Most cancers Institute final yr, have to be confirmed by the Senate. The NIH has not had a everlasting director since Francis C. Collins retired in December 2021 after serving 12 years underneath presidents Obama, Trump and Biden.
In a press release shared by the White Home, Biden mentioned Bertagnolli is a “world-class physician-scientist whose imaginative and prescient and management will guarantee NIH continues to be an engine of innovation to enhance the well being of the American folks.”
Biden praised her efforts to advance his “most cancers moonshot” initiative he first introduced as vice chairman and recharged as president. He lauded her efforts to marshal companions and assets to launch efforts in most cancers prevention, early detection, childhood cancers and medical trials.
Earlier than being tapped to steer the Nationwide Most cancers Institute, Bertagnolli was a surgical oncology professor at Harvard Medical College and a surgeon at Brigham and Girls’s Hospital, a Harvard educating hospital.
In December, Bertagnolli disclosed she had early breast most cancers. On the time, she mentioned she would wish to endure surgical procedure and attainable remedy however mentioned the prognosis was “very favorable.”
The Nationwide Institutes of Well being contains 27 institutes and facilities, together with the Nationwide Most cancers Institute, specializing in getting older, most cancers, coronary heart, lung and different ailments. NIH points grants to researchers in the USA and abroad. Biden requested Congress approve a $51.1 billion finances for NIH in fiscal 2024, up from this yr’s $47 billion finances.
Congressional Republicans have been essential of NIH’s grant funding and can seemingly query her concerning the company’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
If confirmed, Bertagnolli would be the second girls to steer NIH. Bernadine Healy served as NIH director from 1991 to 1993.
