President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a staunch critic of the COVID-19 lockdown period, as the brand new Director of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH).
Trump made the announcement Tuesday night time, declaring that Bhattacharya’s management, in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will usher in a brand new period of medical analysis grounded in transparency, innovation, and belief.
In keeping with the press launch:
“I’m thrilled to appoint Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, to function Director of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being. Dr. Bhattacharya will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to direct the Nation’s Medical Analysis, and to make essential discoveries that may enhance Well being, and save lives.
Jay is a Professor of Well being Coverage at Stanford College, a Analysis Affiliate on the Nationwide Bureau of Economics Analysis, and a Senior Fellow by courtesy on the Stanford Institute for Financial Coverage Analysis, Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute, and the Hoover Establishment.
He directs Stanford’s Heart for Demography and Economics of Well being and Getting old. His Analysis focuses on the Well being and Properly-Being of weak populations, emphasizing the position of Authorities applications, Biomedical Innovation, and Economics.
Jay is a co-author of the Nice Barrington Declaration, a substitute for lockdowns proposed in October 2020.
His peer-reviewed analysis has been printed in Economics, Statistics, Authorized, Medical, Public Well being, and Well being Coverage Journals. He holds an MD and PhD in Economics from Stanford College.
Collectively, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Customary of Medical Analysis as they study the underlying causes of, and options to, America’s greatest Well being challenges, together with our Disaster of Continual Sickness and Illness. Collectively, they are going to work arduous to Make America Wholesome Once more!”
Dr. responded on this nomination, stating, “I’m honored and humbled by President Donald Trump’s nomination of me to be the subsequent NIH director. We’ll reform American scientific establishments in order that they’re worthy of belief once more and can deploy the fruits of fantastic science to make America wholesome once more!”
I’m honored and humbled by President @realDonaldTrump‘s nomination of me to be the subsequent @NIH director. We’ll reform American scientific establishments in order that they’re worthy of belief once more and can deploy the fruits of fantastic science to make America wholesome once more! https://t.co/FrLmYznhfw
— Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) November 27, 2024
Dr. Bhattacharya, a professor of well being coverage at Stanford College and co-author of The Great Barrington Declaration, rose to prominence throughout the COVID-19 pandemic for his principled and data-driven opposition to authorities overreach.
The Declaration, signed by hundreds of scientists and public well being specialists, known as for an finish to blanket lockdowns and emphasised “targeted safety” of weak populations.
Bhattacharya’s advocacy for particular person freedoms and evidence-based public well being methods set him aside from the medical institution that championed draconian mandates. For this, he confronted relentless backlash, together with being branded a “conspiracy theorist” and focused by social media censorship. He was then investigated by his college.
Dr. Bhattacharya was additionally a co-plaintiff, together with TGP’s Jim Hoft, within the Murthy v. Missouri case, which was heard in entrance of the Supreme Court docket in March.
The plaintiffs are nonetheless gathering proof on this ongoing case labeled the free speech case of the century.
This is my interview with Dr. Bhattacharya earlier this 12 months. Watch:
