Monica Bertagnolli: Saying Farewell and Sharing Thoughts on an Exciting Time for NIH Research

Monica Bertagnolli, Former Director of the National Institutes of Health, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“As I announced earlier this week, today is my last day as NIH Director.

It has truly been my honor to lead this agency and to see firsthand the tremendous work that is being done here.

Last month on this blog, I looked back on some of the scientific advances we’ve highlighted over my tenure.

For my last blog post, I’d like to share just a few words about the important role NIH has in science, and in the lives of all Americans.

In this role, I’ve welcomed fascinating speakers and participated in a great variety of meetings and special events here on the NIH campus.

But perhaps one of the parts of the job I’ve valued most is the privilege of visiting communities across the country.

As I’ve written about before, as a breast cancer survivor, I’ve benefitted from significant medical breakthroughs and had access to excellent care.

As a patient and a clinician, I know the transformative power of research to save lives. But I also know that it’s not always possible for people to receive the care they need due to financial, geographic, or cultural barriers.

During my time as NIH Director, I learned so much from visiting different communities, including those experiencing significant health challenges, in West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, Arkansas, Utah, and Washington state.

By meeting locally with Congressional members, touring academic and community medical centers, engaging with community and Tribal leaders, talking with scientists and researchers, and listening to patients and patient advocates, I saw firsthand how communities are working to overcome health challenges in vastly different settings, from rural towns to large cities.

I believe biomedical research can play an important role in improving health, but we need sustained community engagement.

I’m glad that under my leadership we were able to initiate a new primary care clinical research network pilot program called Communities Advancing Research Equity for Health™ or CARE for Health™.

In this program, NIH is connecting with primary care providers and their patients, giving them access to research and the opportunity to participate in clinical trials. I hope this program will help achieve one of my main goals I had as NIH Director: ensuring that the biomedical research enterprise and its discoveries are more inclusive and accessible to people from all walks of life.

I’m very proud of this and many other programs and initiatives that advanced during my time here, including the NIH Data Science Ecosystem, a new component of the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative called RECOVER-Treating Long COVID (RECOVER-TLC), and a new Women’s Health Research Initiative.

I’m optimistic that with the dedicated work of NIH leaders, these programs will continue to thrive in the years ahead. I’m excited to see the many ways the work of NIH will continue to touch people’s lives.

As I sign off, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the readers of this blog: the researchers, scientists, patients, trial participants, caregivers, advocates, federal employees, and others who engaged with our stories here and on social media, and made this such a rich, informative conversation about what we’re learning from the immense findings coming out of NIH research.

Please note that until a new NIH Director is confirmed, this blog will be featuring guest posts from voices across NIH leadership.

I very much look forward to continuing to hear about the amazing discoveries born of basic and clinical scientific studies supported by NIH, with the steady belief that we can deliver evidence-based, data-driven health care to all.”

Monica Bertagnolli is the former Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. She is the President of Alliance for Clinical Trials In Oncology Foundation. She previously served as the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the field of surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment and Sarcoma Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Dr. Bertagnolli is the Founding Chair of the minimal Common Oncology Data Elements (mCODE) executive committee and has held multiple positions nationally, including being Past President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In 2021, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, having previously served on the National Academies National Cancer Policy Forum