President-elect Donald Trump has announced the nomination of Indian American, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford School of Medicine, to serve as the next Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Expressing his gratitude for the opportunity, Dr. Bhattacharya stated, “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.”
In a statement issued on November 26, 2024, President-elect Trump shared his enthusiasm to nominate Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for the important position as director of NIH.
“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,” added the statement. “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.”
Kennedy, the President-elect’s pick for Health and Human Services, conveyed, “I’m so grateful to President Trump for this spectacular appointment. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is the ideal leader to restore NIH as the international template for gold-standard science and evidence-based medicine.”
Dr. Bhattacharya, a Professor of Health Policy at Stanford University, holds prestigious roles, including Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Freeman Spogli Institute, and the Hoover Institution. He also leads Stanford’s Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging.
“His Research focuses on the Health and Well-Being of vulnerable populations, emphasizing the role of Government programs, Biomedical Innovation, and Economics. Jay is a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an alternative to lockdowns proposed in October 2020. His peer- reviewed research has been published in Economics, Statistics, Legal, Medical, Public Health, and Health Policy Journals. He holds an MD and PhD in Economics from Stanford University. added the statement.
