A Cancer Surgeon and Patient Is Biden’s Pick to Lead N.I.H.

WASHINGTON — President Biden will announce on Monday that he’ll nominate Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli, a most cancers surgeon who turned the director of the National Cancer Institute in October, to be the following director of the National Institutes of Health, filling a place that has been vacant for greater than a 12 months.

Dr. Bertagnolli can also be a most cancers affected person. She introduced late final 12 months that she had she obtained a analysis of early breast most cancers.

In an announcement shared by the White House, Mr. Biden referred to as her a “world-class physician-scientist” who had “spent her career pioneering scientific discovery and pushing the boundaries of what is possible to improve cancer prevention and treatment for patients, and ensuring that patients in every community have access to quality care.”

Dr. Bertagnolli will must be confirmed by the Senate. She is the primary feminine director of the National Cancer Institute, which is a part of the National Institutes of Health. She could be solely the second girl to steer the N.I.H. on a everlasting foundation.

For Mr. Biden, most cancers analysis is deeply private. His elder son, Beau Biden, died of mind most cancers in 2015 at age 46. Last 12 months, the president set a aim of decreasing the dying fee from most cancers by not less than 50 p.c over the following 25 years — a part of an effort, he mentioned then, to “supercharge” the most cancers “moonshot” program he initiated and presided over when he was vp.

On Monday, Mr. Biden praised Dr. Bertagnolli for advancing that initiative and for her efforts to advertise analysis on childhood cancers and packages to increase entry to most cancers medical trials.

The announcement of her nomination was not a shock; quite a lot of news organizations, together with The New York Times, reported final month that the president deliberate to appoint Dr. Bertagnolli. It will not be clear why there was a delay.

Fighting most cancers can also be private for Dr. Bertagnolli. In mid-December, she introduced her analysis and mentioned she was “thankful to be receiving excellent care” at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the place she had labored as a surgical oncologist earlier than taking the helm of the National Cancer Institute.

She mentioned then that her prognosis was good and that she had enrolled in a medical trial. In an interview with NPR in February, she mentioned she was nonetheless in remedy.

“I went in for my regular mammogram expecting it to be negative like all the others and got a nasty surprise,” she mentioned. “And so now I know what it feels like.” She added: “First thing I asked my doctors was, is there anything available for me? And there was a study available for me, and I signed on.”

Only one girl, Dr. Bernadine P. Healy, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, has led the National Institutes of Health on a everlasting foundation. Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, a longtime federal scientist and N.I.H. administrator, did two stints because the company’s appearing director.

If confirmed, Dr. Bertagnolli would exchange Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, who has led the company in an appearing capability since its final everlasting director, Dr. Francis S. Collins, left his publish in December 2021. Dr. Collins, an appointee of President Barack Obama, served in that job for greater than 12 years.

As N.I.H. director, Dr. Bertagnolli would lead one of many world’s premier analysis businesses, a set of 27 institutes and facilities specializing in most cancers, infectious illness, coronary heart and lung illnesses, psychological well being and drug abuse, amongst different medical issues. With an annual finances of greater than $47 billion, the N.I.H. funds analysis world wide.

A daughter of Italian and French Basque immigrants, Dr. Bertagnolli grew up on a ranch in southwestern Wyoming, studied engineering as an undergraduate at Princeton University and attended medical faculty on the University of Utah. Before becoming a member of the federal authorities, she was a professor of surgical procedure specializing in surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School.