Director of the National Institutes of Health Steps Down

FRIDAY, Jan. 17, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The current director of the National Institutes of Health, Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D., has announced that she will step down from the position on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. The move comes 14 months after she took the position on Nov. 9, 2023.

Bertagnolli began her tenure meeting with academic medical centers and community health centers across the country and with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. During her tenure as NIH director, a new primary care clinical research network pilot program called Communities Advancing Research Equity for Health, or CARE for Health, was initiated to connect innovative research with routine clinical care in real-world settings. She was also instrumental in creating “an NIH health data ecosystem,” which will allow broad access to inclusive, diverse, and secure data from unlimited clinical care environments.

Bertagnolli also worked with the Biden administration to create the White House Initiative on Women”s Health Research. Her own battle with breast cancer placed her in a unique position to see health issues from a patient”s point of view.

Taking the helm of the agency as the COVID-19 pandemic was waning, Bertagnolli addressed the knowledge gaps the world faces from infectious agents, focusing on the ongoing medical issues of patients recovering from COVID-19 and setting up programs to expedite finding treatments for long COVID, including drugs, biologics, medical devices, and other therapies.

“These advances have been achieved because of a talented NIH workforce with a strong commitment to solving some of the most complex scientific and health challenges facing the world today,” Bertagnolli said in a statement. “While I leave NIH unable to see these initiatives and more through to fruition, I am optimistic that they will continue under new leadership.”

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