The Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will join VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Facts & Faith Fridays for a virtual discussion on Sept. 20 at 3-4 p.m. Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D., will share details about her new role and the 2024 priorities for the NIH.

As NIH director, Bertagnolli oversees the work of the largest funder of biomedical and behavioral research in the world. She is the first surgeon and second woman to hold the position. Before taking the helm at NIH, Bertagnolli served as the director of the National Cancer Institute.

Some of Bertagnolli’s priorities for the NIH include increasing the diversity of clinical trial participants, embracing the expansion of new learning-based analytic tools, restoring trust in science by making it accessible to all communities and strengthening collaboration across the 27 NIH institutes and centers.

Co-founded by community leaders Rudene Mercer Haynes, Rev. F. Todd Gray, and Massey director Robert A. Winn, M.D., the Facts & Faith Fridays program was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it continues to serve the community under the leadership of its founders, Rev. Dr. Herbert Ponder, Arnethea Sutton Ph. D., Dr. Jessica Y. Brown, LCP, and Rev. Rachel Pierce M.A.