Announcing 2025 PSOM Commencement Speaker Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D.
March 24, 2025
With much enthusiasm and great pride, we invite you to celebrate the achievements of our graduating medical students at the Perelman School of Medicine’s 2025 Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18. Graduation will be held at the Kimmel Center as well as simultaneously broadcast for wider audiences.
We are delighted to announce this year’s Commencement speaker: Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D., who served as the 17th director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s biomedical research agency and largest public funder of biomedical and behavioral research in the world. In this role, Dr. Bertagnolli was the first surgeon and the second woman to lead the NIH. She is recognized for her impactful career in pioneering scientific discovery, described by former President Biden as one who pushed “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.”
A key tenet of Penn Medicine's steadfast commitment to Serving a Changing World is to simplify care delivery and place it within reach, which defines Dr. Bertagnolli’s many contributions to society. Throughout nearly four decades as a renowned physician-scientist, Dr. Bertagnolli has been at the forefront of the field of clinical oncology. Her research has advanced the current understanding of the gene mutation that promotes gastrointestinal cancer development and the role of inflammation as a driver of cancer growth. She also has worked to increase responsible access and sharing of cancer clinical trial data among researchers and has promoted the inclusion of rural communities in clinical studies.
Before joining the NIH, Dr. Bertagnolli was the director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where she initiated efforts to expand and modernize cancer clinical trials to increase the number of people who can participate in NCI-supported research. She spent much of her career in Boston, specializing in treating and researching gastrointestinal cancers in her roles as the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery 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. Dr. Bertagnolli is a past president and chair of the board of directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and has served on the board of directors of the American Cancer Society and the Prevent Cancer Foundation. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.
A graduate of Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Dr. Bertagnolli received a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She trained in surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was a research fellow in tumor immunology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
At a time of rapid changes to health and healthcare delivery, we are fortunate to welcome such a tireless advocate, scientist, and educator to address our graduating class. We look forward to an inspiring celebration with you and your families.
===
Jonathan A. Epstein, MD, Dean|EVP
Suzanne Rose, MD, MSEd, Senior Vice Dean for Medical Education