Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, began a 6-year term as president of the National Academy of Medicine on July 1, 2026. She will also serve as Vice Chair of the National Research Council, which houses the majority of programs within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Bertagnolli’s elected leadership team includes NAM Council Vice Chair Linda A. McCauley, Home Secretary Bob Phillips, and International Secretary Carlos del Rio.
Bertagnolli previously served as the 17th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the 16th Director of the National Cancer Institute. A surgical oncologist and physician-scientist, her research has advanced understanding of the role of genetics and inflammation in gastrointestinal cancers and soft-tissue sarcomas. Bertagnolli served as Chief of Surgical Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery Emerita at Harvard Medical School. A past president and chair of the board of directors for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, she has also served on the boards of the American Cancer Society and the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
Throughout her career, Bertagnolli has championed collaborative efforts to build a learning health system by transforming the data infrastructure for clinical research, including by spearheading the mCODE initiative, which enabled standardized oncology data exchange, and DataCOUNTS, an NIH program managing data to drive a learning health system.
Bertagnolli was elected as a member of the NAM in 2021 and is the first woman to serve as its president. She graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree and attended medical school at the University of Utah.
Bertagnolli succeeds Victor J. Dzau, MD, who served from 2014 to 2026. In July 2026, Dzau returned to Duke University as James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Chancellor Emeritus for Health Affairs, and Director of the Mandel Center for Hypertension and Atherosclerosis.
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