Listen to Story US President Donald Trump's nominee, Jay Bhattacharya, is now head of the nation's premier medical agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Bhattacharya, who is an Indian-origin professor at Stanford School of Medicine, was confirmed as the Director of NIH on March 26 by the US Senate. "Voted today to confirm Dr Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health.
With an extensive background in medical research, I expect Dr J Bhattacharya to provide sound leadership at the NIH," wrote US Republican Senator from Kentucky Mitch McConnell as he congratulated Bhattacharya in a post on X. Voted today to confirm Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health.
With an extensive background in medical research, I expect @DrJBhattacharya to provide sound leadership at the @NIH . pic.twitter.
com/R9E2NSBPj1 — U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (@SenMcConnell) March 25, 2025 Bhattacharya is a physician and economist, a professor of health policy at Stanford University, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute, and the Hoover Institution.
Bhattacharya gained recognition during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic for criticising orders on wearing a mask, shutting down of schools and workplaces and other measures meant to stop the spread of the virus. He had signed the Great Barrington Declaration, a document signed by thous.
