In 1994, Bertagnolli began as an associate surgeon at the Strang Cancer Prevention Center and attending surgeon at
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital–Cornell.[10] She joined the faculty at
Harvard Medical School in 1999 and was appointed at
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in 2000.[10] Bertagnolli specializes in the treatment of tumors from gastrointestinal diseases and is an expert in treating soft-tissue sarcoma.[8] She became the Chief of Surgical Oncology at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in 2007, and was the first woman to hold such a position.[8] Bertagnolli's laboratory at the Dana-Farber / Harvard Cancer Center studies the role of
Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) mutations in
colorectal carcinogenesis through animal studies and human clinical trials.[13]
Selected publications
Her publications include:
Molecular origins of cancer: Molecular basis of colorectal cancer[14]
Cardiovascular risk associated with celecoxib in a clinical trial for colorectal adenoma prevention[15]
Dissecting the multicellular ecosystem of metastatic melanoma by single-cell RNA-seq[16]
NIH director
In May 2023,
President Biden nominated Bertagnolli to serve as the director of the National Institutes of Health.[17] Dr. Bertagnolli was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 7, 2023. She is the second woman director of the NIH.[18]
Awards and honors
Bertagnolli's awards and honors include:
2011 Partners Healthcare Partners in Excellence Award[10]
2015 Cancer Charles H. Sanders Life Sciences Award[19]
2023 Recognized as one of the 100 Influential Women in Oncology by OncoDaily[22]
Personal life
Bertagnolli is married and has two sons.[8] After a routine mammogram, Bertagnolli received an early-stage
breast cancer diagnosis in November 2022.[23]