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Trump Picks Jay Bhattacharya as NIH Director to Work with RFK Jr. on Agency Overhaul

Nov 27, 2024, 03:42 AM

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University professor and health economist, to serve as the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Bhattacharya, who called the COVID-19 lockdowns the 'biggest public health mistake we've ever made,' is a prominent critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. He co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration advocating for focused protection of the vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump announced that Dr. Bhattacharya will work alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to 'restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research.' The NIH is the primary public funder of medical research in the United States, overseeing a budget of nearly $50 billion.