Jay Bhattacharya confirmed as Donald Trump's NIH director; his most controversial opinions on Covid

The US Senate has confirmed Indian-American health economist Dr Jayanta 'Jay' Bhattacharya as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the primary federal agency that spends billions to support medical research.

President Donald Trump's pick won the vote 53-47.

Jay Bhattacharya would be at the helm of NIH at a time when the federal health agency is facing funding pause, lay-offs, and hiring freeze, threatening to disrupt its smooth functioning.

He 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.

A well-respected epidemiologist, Bhattacharya had his own share of controversies when Covid pandemic broke out in early 2020. He questioned lockdown policies of the governments around the world to contain virus spread. Bhattacharya had instead suggested to protect elderly and vulnerable people from Covid while allowing the virus to spread among the healthy population to build natural immunity.

An open critic of the lockdown, Bhattacharya suggested that Covid lockdowns did not save lives and instead badly impacted the lives of the poor and the working class.

He was among the lead authors of Great Barrington Declaration which advocated to lift lockdown restrictions. The declaration argued that Covid should be allowed to spread among young and healthy population, a daring suggestion at the time.

NIH Director Francis Collins and US Covid advisor Anthony Fauci criticised the document and called it dangerous and unethical.

"If confirmed, I'll carry out President Trump's agenda of making the public science institutions of this country worthy of trust and serve to make America healthy again," Bhattacharya had said at Senate confirmation hearing for NIH director.

He also promised to establish 'a culture of respect for free speech in science and scientific dissent at the NIH' once confirmed for the top job.

More about Jay Bhattacharya

Born in 1968 in Kolkata, Bhattacharya is a distinguished professor of Medicine at Stanford University. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

Jay Bhattacharya leads the Stanford Center on the Demography of Health and Aging. His research focuses on the economics of health care around the world with a particular emphasis on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations. Bhattacharya's peer-reviewed research has been published in widely-respected journals on economics, statistics, law, medicine, public health, and health policy.

He holds both an MD and a PhD in economics from Stanford University.

He has served on numerous scientific review and advisory committees. When not busy with research work, Bhattacharya loves to spend time with his family.