NIH: The Essentials

We were joined by Dr. Ned Sharpless, who among his many distinctions served as the Director of the National Cancer Center under the Trump and Biden Administrations. Dr. Sharpless sat down with leading health policy expert and commentator Susan Dentzer, in a conversation focused on the National Institutes of Health. What does NIH do, how does it do it, and why? And speaking of why, why doesn’t medical progress move faster?

Watch the recording

Speakers:

Norman E. Sharpless, MD, is Professor of Medicine, Cancer Policy, and Innovation at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He is a physician, scientist, entrepreneur and former federal official, serving as Director of the National Cancer Institute from 2017 to 2022, and as Acting Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration in 2019. Prior to government, Dr. Sharpless was the Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He founded G1 Therapeutics, which developed the FDA-approved medicine Cosela (Trilaciclib), used to prevent chemotherapy toxicity. He is currently on the boards of G1 Therapeutics, Karius Inc, and Nucleus Radiopharma; and is the co-Founder of Jupiter BioVentures. He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy, the Association of American Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the National Academy of Medicine.

Susan Dentzer is President and Chief Executive Officer of America’s Physician Groups, the nonprofit organization representing more than 360 large physician groups focused on patientcentered, coordinated, and integrated health care that is accountable for both costs and quality. Dentzer is a highly respected health and health policy thought leader, a frequent speaker and commentator, and an author of commentaries in Modern Healthcare, the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst, the American Journal of Public Health, and other prominent publications. She is also the editor and lead author of the book Health Care Without Walls: A Roadmap for Reinventing U.S. Health Care. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Council on Foreign Relations and is a fellow of the National Academy of Social Insurance and the Hastings Center. Dentzer graduated from Dartmouth and also holds a master’s degree in health care delivery science from the institution. She is a trustee emerita of Dartmouth and chaired the institution’s Board of Trustees from 2001-2004. From March 2021-March 2023, she chaired the Board of Directors of Research!America, which advocates for health-related research, and formerly chaired the board of the Global Health Council. Dentzer is also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Rescue Committee, the organization that works in more than 40 countries to help those affected by humanitarian crises survive and rebuild their lives. She also serves on the advisory boards of the Robert J. Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University; the Center for Global Health Equity at Dartmouth; and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California – San Francisco (UCSF).