Monica Bertagnolli, M.D., a 1985 graduate of the University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, was nominated today as the 16th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.
Monica Bertagnolli, 1985 graduate of the University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine.
If confirmed as NIH director by the U.S. Senate, she would oversee the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, which has a budget of more than $47 billion and is composed of 27 separate institutes and centers.
A cancer surgeon, Bertagnolli became the first female director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in October 2022. She was also the first woman to lead the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s surgical-oncology division in Boston. She would be the second female director of the NIH.
Prior to becoming director of the NCI, Bertagnolli served as chair of the Huntsman Cancer Institute’s external advisory board. In that position, she played a key role on advising HCI on strategy for its cancer research efforts and particularly the Institute’s enhanced commitment to the Mountain West.
You can read the Biden Administration’s announcement here.