“You Guys Are the Ones to Change the World” – Gonzaga University

Laughter echoed down the halls of the UW-GU Health Partnership Building early Friday as a small cohort of Gonzaga faculty, administrators and alumni from the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Health Sciences – joined by partners from University of Washington School of Medicine – convened for coffee, pastry and community.  
Unsuspecting students walking by might have mistaken the gathering for yet another year-end celebration. But this collection of scholars and researchers was actually a welcoming party of sorts for Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, a surgical oncologist and cancer researcher who also served as director of the National Institutes of Health and of the National Cancer Institute. She traveled to Spokane from Boston late Thursday in anticipation of receiving an honorary Doctor of Science degree and speaking at the Gonzaga Graduate Commencement ceremony Saturday.  
As Gonzaga’s Mission is built around preparing students “for lives of leadership and service for the common good,” Dr. Bertagnolli’s life work stands as a vivid reflection of that Mission, lived at the highest levels of science, medicine and public service. And as Friday’s conversation moved from casual chit-chat into a thoughtful discussion of public health and Gonzaga’s role in America’s healthcare future, Dr. Bertagnolli offered the kind of insightful, inspiring analysis one would expect from a woman who’s life journey has taken her from a southwestern Wyoming ranch to the heights of national healthcare and medical research leadership.  
“You guys are the ones who change the world. This is where it happens,” Dr. Bertagnolli told the group, praising the community connection of the UW-GU Health Partnership in the region. She noted that work being done here is vital to the improvement of healthcare across the country — and is not being done at larger institutions driven by different goals and metrics.  
Dr. Bertagnolli’s own passion to serve was evident early on in her life, when summers were enjoyed on the family ranch and winters spent 95 miles away in Rock Springs, Wyoming, where the closest schools resided.  
A self-described “nerd” who always had her homework done two weeks early, she went to college to study engineering but always had medicine on her mind as well.  
“It’s no surprise I ended up being a surgeon,” Bertagnolli recalled. “I was actually kind of a semi-dual major in both biochemistry and engineering. But the engineering part was about liking to create something, build things, fix things. Many surgeons have that same background. The same personality that leads you to engineering also leads you to be a surgeon, or an innovator who makes a device that works in medicine.”  
As her career took her from the operating room and research lab into leadership positions and administration, Dr. Bertagnolli never stopped caring for patients, noting that she was “still a practicing surgeon all the way up until I went to the National Institutes of Health” in 2022.  
And she has never lost sight of what drove her to medicine in the first place.  
“It was always about how do we make the world a better place for people who need the help the medical profession can offer. Period. That was always the goal,” Dr. Bertagnolli said.  
“I am so incredibly fortunate in the world of medicine, how its whole ethic is devoted to service, around helping people, but also around innovation and doing better.” 
That, of course, is where the next generation of Gonzaga graduates come in. The students who will hear Dr. Bertagnolli speak at Graduate Commencement, as well as those at the law and undergraduate ceremonies, continue to inspire in her hope for a better future.  
“When there’s some problem and I just cannot understand why we can’t make progress, what fixes my perspective immediately is to sit down with people who are just starting their careers,” Bertagnolli said. “Fifteen minutes with medical students or fellows or very junior faculty instantly resets my belief that, yup, it’s going to be okay. Because these young people are incredible and will go so far beyond what we’ve ever done.” 
Dr. Bertagnolli’s work, at every stage of her career, has demonstrated that knowledge must be directed toward something greater. That “greater” became even more evident as she stepped into national medical leadership. In those roles, Dr. Bertagnolli expanded her reach from individual patients to entire populations, shaping priorities that influence the future of medicine. 
She has always championed research that reaches beyond privileged populations, advocating for inclusion in clinical trials and equitable access to care. She has asked difficult questions about who benefits from innovation — and who is left behind.  
When Dr. Bertagnolli speaks on Saturday, she will stand as an example of what it looks like to live out Gonzaga’s Mission beyond the classroom.  
When asked for a message for all students graduating this weekend, no matter their academic discipline, she is clear: The world needs you. 
“It is such a privilege and an honor to graduate from a place like Gonzaga that has an amazing tradition and such talented faculty,” Dr. Bertagnolli said. “The world needs what Gonzaga graduates can accomplish.  
“I believe, completely, that to those whom much is given, much is required. That’s the way I’ve always tried to live my life and steer my career. And that doesn’t mean everybody needs to go out and win a Nobel Prize. It just means you have to use your gifts, whatever they may be.” 

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