Biden chooses cancer expert to lead National Institutes of Health

By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has tapped a cancer specialist to become director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Monica Bertagnolli recently became the first female head of the NIH’s National Cancer Institute. If confirmed by the Senate, she would become the second woman named permanent director of the NIH, one of the world’s leading biomedical research agencies. Bertagnolli also would bring a patient’s perspective to the job. She was diagnosed with early breast cancer shortly after taking the cancer institute job. The NIH has been without a permanent director since Dr. Francis Collins stepped down in late 2021.