President Joe Biden announced on May 15 that he would nominate cancer specialist Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to be the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The nominee would be replacing former NIH director Dr. Francis Collins, who held the post for 12 years before stepping down in December 2021, and acting director Dr. Lawrence Tabak, who stepped in for Collins.
Bertagnolli is a cancer doctor and researcher who last year became the first female director of the National Cancer Institute.
If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the second woman to hold the position of permanent director of the NIH, which is one of the world’s foremost biomedical research institutions….