Monica Bertagnolli Nominated to Be Director of the National Institutes of Health

Monica Bertagnolli, MD, former chair of Huntsman Cancer Institute’s external advisory board and a 1985 graduate of the University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, was nominated May 15th as the 16th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.

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 Huntsman Cancer Institute on strategy for its cancer research efforts and particularly the institute’s enhanced commitment to the Mountain West.

“Dr. Bertagnolli has been closely connected to Huntsman Cancer Institute and the University of Utah for many years,” says Cornelia Ulrich, PhD, chief scientific officer and executive director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Huntsman Cancer Institute. “As a member of our external advisory board she has provided invaluable insight on the needs of the rural and frontier populations in the Mountain West – the area that Huntsman Cancer Institute is dedicated to serve.”

Read the Biden Administration’s announcement.