President Joe Biden on Monday announced he will nominate National Cancer Institute Director Monica Bertagnolli to lead the National Institutes of Health, a position that has been open since December 2021 when longtime director Francis Collins retired.
The nomination underscores the administration’s focus on the cancer moonshot. Bertagnolli, a cancer surgeon who rose to the top ranks of the National Cancer Institute last fall, was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2022.
“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.
