Transition of power
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Trump has selected Dr. Jay Bhattacharya from Stanford University, a critic of lockdown measures, to lead the National Institutes of Health. In this role, he would be in charge of a significant budget and multiple research centers within the agency.
Written by Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Stay informed on the most recent news regarding the transition of President-elect Trump.
On Tuesday evening, President-elect Donald J. Trump announced his decision to appoint Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a physician and economist from Stanford University. Dr. Bhattacharya gained attention during the coronavirus pandemic for his views against lockdown measures, sparking controversy in the public health domain. He will now serve as the director of the National Institutes of Health under the new administration.
Donald Trump announced on social media that Jay and RFK Jr. will work together to improve the quality of medical research at the NIH. They will focus on investigating the root causes of major health issues in America, such as chronic illness and disease. RFK Jr. has been chosen by Trump to head the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH.
Should he be approved by the Senate, Dr. Bhattacharya would become the head of the leading medical research organization globally, which has a budget of $48 billion and consists of 27 distinct institutes and centers, each dedicated to researching various illnesses such as cancer and diabetes. Dr. Bhattacharya, who is not currently practicing medicine, has advocated for reforming the N.I.H. and reducing the influence of government employees who, in his opinion, had too much influence on federal policies during the pandemic.
He is the most recent addition to a group of health officials chosen by Trump who gained attention during the COVID-19 pandemic and have unconventional views on healthcare and public health. Experts believe that the president-elect’s choices for health positions indicate that changes are on the horizon for the country’s public health and medical community.
Dr. Bhattacharya, along with two others, played a significant role in creating the Great Barrington Declaration in 2020. This declaration suggested that the virus should be allowed to spread among young, healthy individuals who faced minimal risk of death, allowing them to develop natural immunity. Meanwhile, efforts to prevent the virus were recommended to focus on older individuals and those who were more vulnerable.
Dr. Bhattacharya shared his opinions with Mr. Trump’s health secretary, Alex M. Azar II, through a connection with Dr. Scott Atlas, who was advising the former president. The response from the public health community was immediate and harsh, labeling Dr. Bhattacharya and his colleagues as extremists whose unconventional policy recommendations could result in a significant number of avoidable deaths.
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