The Senate confirmed Dr. Monica Bertagnolli on Tuesday to serve as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by a vote of 62-36.
Dr. Bertagnolli will be the second woman to lead the NIH in a permanent capacity, stepping into the director role after it has remained vacant for over a year. She received bipartisan support in her confirmation vote, gaining the support of 47 Democrats, 13 Republicans, and two independents.
“Dr. Bertagnolli will use her new role to advance our nation’s understanding of disease and ensure that the groundbreaking research that NIH conducts will yield innovative and life-saving treatments,” Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement following the vote. “I have no doubt she will reimagine the boundaries of what is possible when it comes to what the NIH can achieve.”
“I am confident her leadership will spark medical breakthroughs that are life-changing and accessible to all Americans,” he added. “The American people are fortunate to have Dr. Bertagnolli accept this challenge at this time. I look forward to working with her to do great things.”
Dr. Bertagnolli currently serves as the director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where she has worked to advance President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative to end cancer as we know it.
She previously served as a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and as the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the field of surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School.
