(ABC 6 News)- President Biden announced his plan to appoint Dr. Kimryn Rathmell as the 17th director on the National Cancer Institute on Friday.

The NCI is the federal government’s principal agency for cancer research and training.

Rathmell graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1991 with degrees in biology and chemistry. One of her former professors remembers the time Rathmell decided to apply for graduate school as she worked towards her future career.

“Kim even came in and asked me one time in my office, she said, ‘I think I’m going to have to go to graduate school.’ I was like, ‘that’s a pretty obvious answer, I mean you’re definitely good enough to go. Places like Stanford and Harvard would fight for somebody like you’,” said Ira Simet, Associate Professor of biochemistry at the University of Northern Iowa.

In a statement, President Biden said in part, “Dr. Rathmell is the talented and visionary leader the National Cancer Institute needs to drive us toward ending cancer as we know it.”

Dr. Rathmell is currently the Physician-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.