President Biden’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health pledged Wednesday to restore trust in the research agency by highlighting the “doctor-patient relationship” after a pandemic marked by government directives and to cooperate with Congress on efforts to explore the origins of COVID-19.
Dr. Monica Bertagnolli also said she would make sure NIH funding supports research centers across the country, including the heartland.
The pledges to the Senate Health Committee were aimed at drawing Republican support for her confirmation as permanent director of NIH, which is composed of 27 centers that each have a specific research agenda. The agency has lacked a permanent director since Francis Collins left at the end of 2021.
She also tried to woo Democrats by pledging to do what she could to suppress the price of drugs that are developed with taxpayer assistance through NIH.
“I will commit to working to make sure that the benefits of our research are affordable and available to all the American people,” she told committee Chairman Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent.
The NIH has an annual budget of $47 billion and is the largest funder of medical innovations in the world. It generally enjoys bipartisan support, and appropriators have been willing to give it funding increases to explore vaccines for emerging diseases and cures to conditions like cancer and Alzheimer’s.
However, the agency became a “lightning rod for partisan debates” during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the senior Republican on the committee.
“That eroded the trust between the NIH and the public,” he said. “First and foremost, you will be tasked to rebuild the relationship with Congress and the public.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci of its infectious diseases branch served as a prominent face for the pandemic response and became a polarizing figure during the crisis because of his positions on lockdowns and mask wearing. The NIH’s decision to fund grant partners who worked on coronaviruses at a Wuhan lab in China also sparked intense scrutiny, due to accusations that the virus originated there.
The doctor pledged to work to the “fullest extent of our ability” to determine if there is evidence the virus originated in nature or in the lab.
She also pledged to restore trust in NIH by deferring to deliberations between patients and doctors, and said she would find ways to educate Americans about science and how they can participate in breakthroughs.
“I think that also engenders great trust in the process if it’s done in a respectful and appropriate way,” she said.
If confirmed, the doctor would be filling big shoes: Dr. Collins served as NIH director for 12 years under three presidents before stepping aside.
Right now, the NIH is being led by acting Director Lawrence Tabak.
Dr. Bertagnolli vowed to take on the “maternal health crisis” as hundreds of women continue to die in childbirth each year, and said she would foster better treatments for the opioid crisis while making sure research dollars flow to research centers in the heartland.
“NIH research has to reach everywhere,” she told Sen. Roger Marshall, Kansas Republican.
Dr. Bertagnolli, a surgical oncologist by training, gained White House notice by serving as a key figure in Mr. Biden’s cancer moonshot project to “end cancer as we know it.”
The issue is personal to Mr. Biden, whose son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.
The doctor said she was a patient herself. Her breast cancer was caught early and she got outstanding care, including treatments developed at NIH, but she said too many others do not receive the same level of care.
“NIH must support research that is equitable and accessible to all populations,” she said. “This includes dramatically increasing clinical trials that reflect the full diversity of Americans because we know that’s what yields the best results.”
Mr. Sanders, meanwhile, said the high cost of drugs supported by taxpayers through NIH amounts to a crisis that must be addressed.
“We pay for the research, drug companies develop the drug, they make billions and they charge us the highest prices in the world for the product,” he said. “Doesn’t make sense to me.”
Dr. Bertagnolli stopped short of guaranteeing that taxpayer-supported drugs would be priced in the U.S. as low as in other countries — a vow that Mr. Sanders wanted to hear.
The doctor, however, got a bipartisan assist from Republican Sen. John Barrasso, a Republican who — like the doctor — is from Wyoming.
He said the doctor has “grit” and understands the needs of rural health.
“Wyoming knows her as part of a multigenerational ranching family,” Mr. Barrasso said. “I’m proud to say that she has never forgotten where she came from.”
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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