Secretary Kennedy Swears in Dr. Anthony Letai as Director of the National Cancer Institute

Monday, September 29, 2025

Anthony Letai, M.D., Ph.D., was sworn in today as director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Dr. Letai takes the helm of the world's most prestigious cancer research agency after serving as professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He possesses decades of experience studying cell death in cancer, developing treatments, and identifying predictive biomarkers.

"Cancer, like other chronic diseases, was long neglected in federal research attention," said Secretary Kennedy. "President Trump reversed that neglect, and Dr. Letai's leadership of NCI will drive American innovation by focusing squarely on the best science to find causes and cures."