CONFIRMED: Bertagnolli Named Director

CONFIRMED: Bertagnolli Named Director

By The NIH Catalyst Staff

Monica M. Bertagnolli (external link) is the 17th director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Nominated by President Biden, Bertagnolli was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Nov. 7 and sworn in on Nov. 9. She is the second woman and first surgeon to hold the position.

“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,” said President Biden in his nomination announcement in March 2023.

Bertagnolli transitions from her role as NCI director and replaces Lawrence A. Tabak (external link), who had been selected by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to serve as the acting director of NIH. Tabak has held the position since December 2021 when former director, Francis S. Collins (external link), announced he would step down after his 12-year tenure. Tabak has agreed to resume his role as the NIH principal deputy director to assist Bertagnolli with the transition.

NCI principal deputy director Douglas R. Lowy (external link), served as acting director until President Biden appointed W. Kimryn Rathmell (external link) as the new NCI director in December.

Making Rounds

Bertagnolli has been making the rounds on the NIH Bethesda campus since taking on her new role. She has performed surgery, hosted her first presidential visit, held an NIH-wide Town Hall meeting, and joined the twice-monthly scientific directors and clinical directors meeting.

At the Dec. 19 Town Hall meeting, she spoke to the NIH community about her personal career path and addressed the top three questions submitted via a poll by NIH employees. Those questions focused on workplace flexibilities, restoring the American people’s trust in science, and understaffing in some departments. Bertagnolli, who grew up on a cattle and sheep ranch, remarked on the self-reliance required when living 100 miles from the nearest hospital, shared her obsession with fly fishing, and commented how her commitment to physical fitness reaches back to her undergraduate days in karate club.

Sitting down with the scientific directors and clinical directors at their Dec. 20 meeting, Bertagnolli expressed how “incredibly unique and wonderful” the NIH intramural environment is for conducting meaningful research.

“One of the things I would love to do is eliminate this friction between the basic fundamental science community and the clinical community. Those should be absolutely joined, and I think the NIH intramural program is a perfect example of this,” she told the directors. “I think you all have bought into that here and understand that deep in your bones.

“You are going to hear lots of talk from me about how I have an emphasis on clinical research,” she continued. “Please do not ever think that is because of any diminution in our commitment to basic research. It is just something that we now have the capabilities of doing with the scientific rigor that we have always wanted.”

Leading from personal insight

The bench to bedside pipeline is something anyone who speaks with Bertagnolli is certain to hear about, and she has personally experienced both.

Chief among her key priorities is ensuring that clinical trials yield the best results. She hopes to do that by continuing to increase the diversity of participants, embracing the rapid adoption of new learning-based analytical tools, and ensuring their design and use improves care for all people. She expressed her commitment to leveraging commonalities across all research areas—from biology to barriers in accessing care—to strengthen collaboration across the 27 NIH institutes and centers.

“As a physician-scientist for more than 30 years, I have seen the transformative power of NIH research to produce results that save lives, including my own treatment for breast cancer,” said Bertagnolli. “As NIH director, I look forward to ensuring that NIH continues to be the steward of our nation’s medical research while engaging all people and communities in the research effort that includes informing medical practice that drives equitable access to health care for all.

About Bertagnolli

Bertagnolli has been a cancer surgeon for more than 35 years. Before joining NCI, she specialized in treating and researching gastrointestinal cancers in her roles as the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery 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, all in Boston.

Bertagnolli’s research has advanced the current understanding of the gene mutation that promotes gastrointestinal cancer development and the role of inflammation as a driver of cancer growth. She also has worked to increase responsible access and sharing of cancer clinical trial data among researchers and has promoted the inclusion of rural communities in clinical studies.

Bertagnolli graduated from Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey) with a bachelor’s degree in engineering and went on to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She trained in surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was a research fellow in tumor immunology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Portions of this article are adapted from this Nov. 9 NIH press release (external link).