(Image source from: X/@DrJBhattacharya)
US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University researcher and critic of US coronavirus policy, to head the National Institutes of Health. “I am pleased, Dr. “To appoint Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health,” President Trump said in a statement. Dr. Bhattacharya will work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the country's medical research and groundbreaking discoveries that improve health and save lives. Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will explore the causes and solutions to America's greatest health problems, including chronic disease and the disease crisis, and return the NIH to the gold standard in medical research. Together they will work hard to make America healthy again! "
Bhattacharya said in his X post that the team would reform "America's scientific institutions" to restore the country to health. I am humbled and honored that President Donald Trump has nominated me to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health. We will transform America's academic institutions. " he wrote. On November 23, The Washington Post reported that Jay Bhattacharya was President Trump's first candidate to become the next director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Stanford-educated physician and economist met this week with Robert F . Kennedy Jr., President Trump's nominee to lead HHS, and is enthusiastic about his ideas for overhauling the agency.
I am honored and humbled by President @realDonaldTrump's nomination of me to be the next @NIH director. We will reform American scientific institutions so that they are worthy of trust again and will deploy the fruits of excellent science to make America healthy again! https://t.co/FrLmYznhfw
— Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) November 27, 2024
Bhattacharya added that he wants the agency to focus on funding more innovative research and reduce the influence of some of its senior officials. Earlier this month, President Trump nominated Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services, the nation's top health agency that oversees the NIH and other health agencies.
