The American Principles Project is warning Senators against President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the next leader of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). That selection — a person called Dr. Monica Bertagnolli — is a “radical” who will “undoubtedly guide the NIH in a dangerous direction and continue to push an extreme left-wing cultural agenda on our healthcare system,” according to APP.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who previously led the NIH, said he has advocated for Bertagnolli to be the new director because of her “very solid academic record.”
“It’s not difficult to see some reasons why Fauci rates Dr. Bertagnolli so highly,” APP’s letter states. “She signed a letter in May of 2020 urging governments to implement mask mandates ‘in all public places, such as stores, transportation systems and public buildings as soon as possible.'”
If no mask was available, people were to be required to wear a “piece of cloth, a scarf, bandana, t-shirt or paper towel” over their mouths.
Bertagnolli’s research has been underwritten almost exclusively by major pharmaceutical companies, including nearly $300 million from Pfizer between 2016 and 2022.
“Other research funding in that time came from Seagen ($26.6 million), Janssen Research & Development ($19.4 million), AstraZeneca ($7.7 million) and Merck Sharp & Dohme ($1 million), along with other contributions from Exelixis, Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, Genentech, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
“Big Pharma’s largesse has been handsomely rewarded,” the letter states. “When the Trump Administration proposed that US payments for certain drugs be capped at the lowest price similar countries pay, Dr. Bertagnolli jumped to Big Pharma’s defense, arguing that such a move would be overly harmful to the companies and would harm doctors’ ability to provide ‘equitable’ care.”
APP cautioned that “equity” doesn’t simply mean ensuring the poor have access to high-quality medical care to Bertagnolli.
“Instead, it means injecting left-wing identity politics, including racial biases and promotion of grotesque sex-change procedures, into the medical profession,” the letter states.
Bertagnolli has used her platform as head of the NCI to urge reflection on the historical suffering of Native Americans and retweeted sentiments on “#NationalComingOutDay” as well as “#TransDayofVisibility.”
“In the current political context, it’s hard to interpret these declarations as anything other than, at the very least, opposition to the growing medical and political consensus against sexual mutilation procedures for children,” the letter says.
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