President Joe Biden is looking to nominate Monica Bertagnolli, MD, to run the National Institutes of Health, two people familiar with the matter told Politico in an April 19 report.
Dr. Bertagnolli has served as director of the National Cancer Institute since Oct. 3, 2022. Before that, she was the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the Field of Surgical Oncology at Harvard Medical School, a surgeon at Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment and Sarcoma Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, also in Boston.
Dr. Bertagnolli's nomination is expected, but it is not finalized, according to The Wall Street Journal. If she is nominated and confirmed by the Senate, she would lead the world's largest biomedical research agency and serve as the next permanent NIH director after Francis Collins, MD, PhD, stepped down in December 2021.
Dr. Bertagnolli would be the second woman to step into the top role at the NIH, according to The Wall Street Journal.