AAU joined AAAS and more than a hundred other higher education and scientific organizations urging leaders of the Senate and the Senate HELP Committee to swiftly confirm Monica Bertagnolli as the director of the National Institutes of Health. The letter emphasized Bertagnolli’s exceptional qualifications and called her the “ideal candidate” to lead the NIH. “Dr. Bertagnolli will bring the experience and leadership that are necessary to guide the NIH into the future and to accelerate discovery, innovation, and treatments in a new era of research for patients and public health,” the letter noted.