Washington: President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Indian-American scientist Jay Bhattacharya as the director of the National Institutes of Health, America’s premier health research and funding institution. Bhattacharya is the first Indian-American nominated by Trump for a high-level administrative role.
Previously, Trump selected Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy to head the newly established Department of Government Efficiency, alongside Tesla’s Elon Musk. This role is voluntary and does not require US Senate confirmation.
“I am thrilled to nominate Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, to serve as Director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bhattacharya will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to direct the Nation’s Medical Research and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives,” Trump announced.
“Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease. Together, they will work hard to Make America Healthy Again,” he said.
Bhattacharya holds the position of Health Policy Professor at Stanford University, serves as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and is a Senior Fellow by courtesy at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute, and the Hoover Institution, as stated by Trump.
He leads the Stanford Center for the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. His research is dedicated to the health and well-being of vulnerable groups, with a focus on the impact of government programs, biomedical innovation, and economics.
Bhattacharya co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which proposed an alternative to lockdowns in October 2020. His peer-reviewed research appears in journals across Economics, Statistics, Legal, Medical, Public Health, and Health Policy. He earned an MD and a PhD in Economics from Stanford University, as stated by Trump.
