President Joe Biden’s choice to head the U.S. National Institutes of Health has hauled in hundreds of millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in recent years, raising concerns about whether she’d serve the public independently.
Dr. Monica Bertagnolli received $247 million in research funding from Pfizer from 2016 to 2021, according to disclosures filed Open Payments, a government-run program that collects and publishes data on payments from drug companies to doctors and others.
Bertagnolli has also received funding from other pharmaceutical companies like Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, and AstraZeneca, totaling more than $21 million since 2016.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a Democrat running for president, said the immense funding amounts illustrated the “revolving door” between well-connected scientists and government positions….