Monica Bertagnolli, M.D. Confirmed as New NIH Director

Posted on November 15, 2023November 20, 2023

Monica Bertagnolli, M.D. was confirmed as the new NIH Director last week. Now that she is confirmed, she has taken the helm immediately as the 17th director. She is the first surgeon and the second woman to hold the position and joins the NIH after being the director at the National Cancer Institute.

In his nomination announcement earlier this year, President Biden stated: “Dr. Bertagnolli has spent her career pioneering scientific discovery and pushing the boundaries of what is possible to improve cancer prevention and treatment for patients and ensuring that patients in every community have access to quality care. Dr. Bertagnolli is a world-class physician-scientist whose vision and leadership will ensure NIH continues to be an engine of innovation to improve the health of the American people.”

Read more about about Dr. Bertagnolli and her confirmation here.

Nominee to Head NIH Clears Committee

Posted on October 25, 2023

Earlier this morning, the nomination of Monica Bertagnolli to head the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee by a bipartisan vote of 15 to 6. Bertagnolli, the current director of the National Cancer Institute, was nominated by President Biden earlier this year to take over the NIH, which has not had a permanent head since the retirement of Francis Collins.

Sen. Appropriations Committee Finishes Its Work, Clears Last 4 Bills

Posted on July 28, 2023

By clearing the last four bills yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee has reported out all 12 spending bills for a fiscal year for the first time in five years. The committee reported out favorably yesterday the following FY2024 spending measures: Labor-HHS-Education; Defense; Interior and the Environment; and Homeland Security. Unlike the situation in the House, where the leadership had to pull the Agriculture spending bill from a floor vote because it lacked enough support even among the Republicans, the committee process in the Senate yesterday was very bipartisan. The Interior bill passed by a vote of 28 – 0, the Defense bill was approved 27 – 1, the Labor-HHS bill was adopted 26 – 2, and the vote was 24 – 4 on the Homeland Security legislation.

Labor-HHS-Education

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

The Senate legislation would fund the National Institutes of Health at a total of $47.8 billion, an increase of $943 million above the current level. The total includes $1.5 billion for ARPA-H, which represents level funding under the Senate version of the bill. Within the NIH, the bill would increase, among other programs, mental health and Alzheimer’s research by $100 million each and while cancer research would see an increase of $60 million.

Title VII Health Professions and Title VIII Nursing Programs

The legislation proposes to fund the Title VII Health Professions programs at a total of $529 million, an increase of $20 million.

At the same time, the Title VIII Nursing programs would see a total of $302.5 million, a $2-million increase over this year.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Student Aid and Higher Education
- Pell Grant– The maximum award would increase by $250 to $7,645
- SEOG– $900 million (a decrease of $10 million)
- Federal Work Study– $1.22 billion (a decrease of $10 million)
- International Education– $85.7 million (level funded)
- TRIO– $1.19 billion (level funded)
- GEAR UP– $338 million (level funded)
- GAANN– $23.5 million (level funded)
Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
- IES would be funded at $793 million, a cut of $14.5 million

Interior

USGS

Climate Adaptation Science Centers– $63.1 million (level funded)
ShakeAlert– $29.6 million (level funded)

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES

$207 million (level funded)

Defense

Under the committee-approved bill, defense basic research would be see an increase of 10.5 percent for a total of $3.22 billion.

Army basic research: $672.5 million (an increase of 5.8%)
Navy basic research: $793.5 million (an increase of 15.2%)
Air Force basic research: $711.9 million (an increase of 16.3%)
Defense-wide basic research: $862.3 million (a decrease of 7.0%)
DARPA: $4.1 billion (0.7% increase)

Both chambers are now in recess until after Labor Day.

President Biden Announces Intent to Nominate Dr. Bertagnolli as NIH Director

Posted on May 15, 2023May 15, 2023

President Biden announced today his intent to nominate Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Bertagnolli is currently the Director of the National Cancer Institute and was previously the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the field of surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a member of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment and Sarcoma Centers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Read more about Dr. Bertagnolli and President Biden’s statement here.

OSTP Releases Guidance for U.S. Scientific Research Security That Preserves International Collaboration

Posted on January 4, 2022January 4, 2022

Today the National Science and Technology Council, Joint Committee on the Research Environment (JCORE), released guidance for Federal departments and agencies on implementing National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 (NSPM-33) on National Security Strategy for U.S. Government-Supported Research and Development.

The guidance addresses the below key elements of NSPM-33:

1) disclosure requirements and standardization;

2) digital persistent identifiers;

3) consequences for violation of disclosure requirements;

4) information sharing; and

5) research security programs.

As a next step, Dr. Eric Lander, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is directing agencies to develop model grant applications and instructions within 120 days that can be used by any funding agency.

In a press statement, Dr. Lander said “the implementation guidance reflects the principles I laid out in August: to protect America’s security and openness, to be clear so that well-intentioned researchers can easily and properly comply, and to ensure that policies do not fuel xenophobia or prejudice.”

You can read the full guidance here.