President Biden Announces Next National Cancer Institute Director
Monica Bertagnolli, MD, will serve as the next—and first woman—director of the National Cancer Institute. President Joe Biden announced (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/10/president-biden-intends-to-appoint-dr-monica-bertagnolli-as-director-of-the-national-cancer-institute/) his intent to make the appointment in August 2022.
Bertagnolli is a surgical oncologist who currently (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/10/president-biden-intends-to-appoint-dr-monica-bertagnolli-as-director-of-the-national-cancer-institute/) serves as professor of surgery in surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School as well as a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is also a member (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/10/president-biden-intends-to-appoint-dr-monica-bertagnolli-as-director-of-the-national-cancer-institute/) of the Gastrointestinal Cancer and Sarcoma Disease Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Bertagnolli is a leader (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/10/president-biden-intends-to-appoint-dr-monica-bertagnolli-as-director-of-the-national-cancer-institute/) in clinical oncology who helped advance understanding variations in the APC gene that affect (https://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/genetic-disorder-reference-sheet-familial-adenomatous-polyposis) individuals’ risk for gastrointestinal cancer.
“Dr. Bertagnolli lends to this effort one of the most powerful voices in the country for patients with cancer, particularly those in rural and remote communities, with a history of advancing patient-focused programs that incorporate learnings directly from patient experiences to build more inclusive models of care,” the White House said (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/10/president-biden-intends-to-appoint-dr-monica-bertagnolli-as-director-of-the-national-cancer-institute/) in a statement.
“I look forward to working with Dr. Bertagnolli to advance the president’s call to end cancer as we know it. Dr. Bertagnolli’s decades of cancer research expertise around patient-centered care and her work to create more inclusive clinical trials will be instrumental as we accelerate the rate of research and innovation to fight cancer,” Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/10/president-biden-intends-to-appoint-dr-monica-bertagnolli-as-director-of-the-national-cancer-institute/). “Cancer knows no bounds, and neither should our efforts to prevent cancer deaths. Together, we will reignite and advance the president’s Cancer Moonshot initiative to save lives.”