Ground broken for Utah’s first monument honoring Chinese railroad workers
The Chinese Railroad Workers Descendants Association broke ground Tuesday for a new monument to honor Chinese railroad workers.
The monument, located on the grounds of the state capitol, will be the first in Utah to honor the 11,000 or more Chinese railroad workers who helped complete the westward part of the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.
It will be about five feet tall and four feet wide and combines various materials to represent Chinese workers’ journey through the Sierra Mountains and Nevada into Utah, as well as the workers’ “unwavering spirit.”
There will also be a plaque paying tribute to the Chinese workers, as well as immigrants, Native Americans, former slaves and others who played a crucial role in the railroad.
First Utah-trained doctor appointed as director of National Institutes of Health
The first medical doctor trained at a Utah school has been confirmed as the director of the National Institutes of Health.
Monica Bertagnolli, M.D., was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday as the 16th director of the NIH, which is the nation’s medical research agency. She began operating in the role early last month.
Bertagnolli, originally from Wyoming, graduated as a cancer surgeon in 1985 from the University of Utah. She was also diagnosed with breast cancer last December while serving as the National Cancer Institute’s first female director.
The NIH is reportedly the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world.
