Cancer experts are applauding President Biden’s reported decision to appoint Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, as director of the National Cancer Institute. The appointment would make her the first woman to lead the NCI, the agency that funds the majority of cancer research in the United States.

News reports about the decision prompted supportive responses from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

“An accomplished cancer surgeon and researcher with deep expertise in community-based cancer research, Dr. Bertagnolli has the knowledge, passion, and skillset to successfully lead the nation’s top federal cancer research agency and the wider US cancer research enterprise,” commented ASCO’s Chief Executive Officer Clifford A. Hudis, MD.

Bertagnolli is currently the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the Field of Surgical Oncology at Harvard University, and a member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer and Sarcoma Disease Centers at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, Boston, Massachusetts.

She also served as president of ASCO from 2018 to 2019. Hudis comments that “during her presidential year, she continually highlighted the need for oncologists to learn from every single patient with cancer, including through clinical research and the application of real-world data and real-world evidence, so that we can accelerate progress and every patient can have the best possible outcome for their disease.”

“During her ASCO tenure she also spearheaded efforts to increase access to equitable cancer care in rural areas and to develop mCODE® — short for Minimal Common Oncology Data Elements — a health data standard now approved by Health Level Seven International (HL7), designed to facilitate digital cancer data interoperability and improve patient care and research,” says Hudis.1

Read more here.

References

  1. Worcester, S., MA. (2022, July 25). First Woman Director of the US National Cancer Institute. Medscape. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/977866?src=WNL_mdpls_220729_mscpedit_honc&uac=317920HV&spon=7&impID=4476878

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