Biden chooses cancer expert to lead National Institutes of Health

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Monday that he plans to nominate cancer specialist Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to become director of the National Institutes of Health. 

Bertagnolli also would bring a patient’s perspective to the job. Shortly after becoming NCI director, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. 

“It’s one thing to know about cancer as a physician but it is another to experience it firsthand as a patient as well,” Bertagnolli said in announcing her diagnosis and treatment plans in December. “To anyone with cancer today: I am truly in this together with you.”