Monica M Bertagnolli, MD

Dr. Bertagnolli is the Director of the NIH, and former Director of the National Cancer Institute. 

She is currently the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the Field of Surgical Oncology at Harvard Medical School, and a member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer and Sarcoma Disease Centers at Dana-Farber/Brigham & Women’s Cancer Center. Dr. Bertagnolli graduated from Princeton University and attended medical school at the University of Utah. She trained in surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was a research fellow in tumor immunology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DF/BWCC).

Dr. Bertagnolli has a background in laboratory work focusing upon understanding the role of the inflammatory response in epithelial tumor formation. From 1994-2011, she led gastrointestinal correlative science initiatives within the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Cancer Cooperative Groups, where she facilitated integration of tumor-specific molecular markers of treatment outcome into nation-wide clinical cancer treatment protocols. From 2007-2018, she served as the Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology at DF/BWCC.

She is a past President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society and the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Dr. Bertagnolli has had numerous leadership roles in multi-institutional cancer clinical research consortia, and currently serves as the Group Chair of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a nation-wide NCI-funded clinical trials group. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Foundation Trials, LLC, a not-for-profit corporation that conducts international cancer clinical trials.