Who's Jay Bhattacharya? Academic appointed head of US health agency
What's the story
The US Senate has confirmed the appointment of Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian-origin academic and health policy professor at Stanford University, as the new Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His nomination was approved with a close vote of 53-47 in the first session of roll call voting in the 119th Congress. Bhattacharya will join newly appointed US HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to restore NIH's status as a leading medical research institution.
Academic credentials
Bhattacharya's extensive background in medical research
Bhattacharya has several prestigious positions to his name. Apart from being a health policy professor at Stanford University, he is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is a senior fellow at Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy Research, Freeman Spogli Institute, and the Hoover Institution. His research interests include government programs, biomedical innovation, and economics.
Research focus
Bhattacharya's role in the Great Barrington Declaration
Bhattacharya co-wrote the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020, recommending an alternative to lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. His research has been published widely across academic journals, including in economics, statistics, legal studies, medicine, as well as public health and health policy. He has been a vocal critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
Institutional challenges
NIH's recent challenges and Bhattacharya's plans
In the recent past, the NIH has undergone major challenges, including laying off about 1,000 staff, freezing grant activities, and even enforcing a policy to restrict research funding for overhead costs. However, Bhattacharya assured at his confirmation hearing earlier this month that he had no plans for further layoffs. He also hinted at plans to change the way federally funded scientific research is conducted under his watch at NIH.