Dana-Farber doctor tapped to lead National Cancer Institute
Dr. Monica Bertagnolli at New England Council member’s Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School was selected by the Biden administration to be the next director of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Bertagnolli has a long list of qualifications for the position as she serves on the American Cancer Society’s Board of Directors, maintains membership of the Gastrointestinal Cancer and Sarcoma Treatment Centers, is a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and teaches as a professor of surgery at the Harvard Medical School.
With her extensive background in cancer care, many people in the cancer treatment community are celebrating Dr. Bertagnolli’s appointment. Dr. Bertagnolli will oversee the $6.9 billion budget allocated to the NCI from the National Institutes of Health. The White House hopes Bertagnolli will help lead the charge to reach what the NCI’s “Cancer Moonshot” which aims to reduce the cancer death rate by at least 50% in the next 25 years.
Two sources familiar with the White House’s decision told Stat News that, “Dr. Bertagnolli would be the first woman to run the National Cancer Institute.”
The New England Council commends Dr. Bertagnolli, Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center and Harvard for this historical accomplishment.
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