The US Senate approved Indian-American Jay Bhattacharya as the new Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Tuesday (local time). Stanford School of Medicine Professor Bhattacharya won the seat with a 53-47 vote in the first session of the roll call vote of the 119th Congress on the official Senate website.
Wide Range of Experience in Medical Research
US President Donald Trump previously nominated Jay Bhattacharya due to his extensive experience in health policy and medical research. He is a Stanford University professor of health policy and has several distinguished positions, including National Bureau of Economic Research research associate and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute, and the Hoover Institution.
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Jay Bhattacharya also leads Stanford’s Centre for Demography and Economics of Health and Ageing. His area of research includes government programs, biomedical innovation, and economics.
Co-Author of the Great Barrington Declaration
Bhattacharya became well-known as a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, a lockdown alternative suggested in October 2020. His work has been widely published in high-impact journals that deal with economics, statistics, legal studies, medical research, public health, and health policy.
The nomination statement emphasized that Bhattacharya will collaborate with US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr to revive the NIH as a “Gold Standard of Medical Research.”
Republican Leaders Welcome the Appointment
After his confirmation, US Republican Senator Mitch McConnell congratulated Bhattacharya, noting his ability to deliver “sound leadership” at the NIH.
“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,” McConnell tweeted on X.
In February earlier, the US Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who is an anti-vaccine campaigner, as the US Health and Human Services Secretary in a 52-48 vote. His confirmation has raised controversies over future health policy under his authority.
