Kolkata-born Jay Bhattacharya is Trump's top pick for NIH chief
Stanford-trained physician and economist Jay Bhattacharya is reportedly the frontrunner for the post of director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under President-elect Donald Trump. According to the Washington Post, Bhattacharya has piqued the interest of Robert F Kennedy Jr., who was recently appointed by Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. His ideas to reform NIH, especially refocusing it to fund more innovative research and curtailing long-serving career officials' influence, have been well received.
Bhattacharya's academic background and research focus
Born in Kolkata, India, in 1968, Bhattacharya is a professor of Health Policy at Stanford University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research. He has an MD from the Stanford School of Medicine and a PhD in economics from Stanford University. Since 2011, he has been leading Stanford's Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. His research focuses on healthcare economics, particularly for vulnerable populations and government programs.
Bhattacharya's recent research and controversial stance on COVID-19
Bhattacharya's work covers medicine, economics, health policy, and public health. His recent research has focused on COVID-19 epidemiology and policy responses. In October 2020, he co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration with Martin Kulldorff and Sunetra Gupta. The declaration criticized government COVID-19 policies and called for "focused protections" for vulnerable populations while relaxing lockdowns—a position that was supported by Republican leaders but criticized by public health experts such as then-NIH Director Francis S Collins.
Bhattacharya's meeting with Kennedy and potential NIH role
Bhattacharya recently met Kennedy to discuss his vision for the NIH, an agency overseeing biomedical research with a budget close to $50 billion. The Trump transition team has not made an official announcement on Bhattacharya's potential appointment. The final decision will be made once President-elect Trump makes an official announcement. The position of NIH director requires Senate confirmation, and Trump's transition team is also considering other candidates for the role.
