The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick Jayanta Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Bhattacharya, a Stanford economist and professor known for his opposition to COVID-19 mandates, was confirmed 53 to 47 on a party-line vote. No Democratic senators voted in favor of Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya is now set to take charge of the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research amid widespread funding and staffing cuts.
Earlier in the month, when senators from both sides of the aisle questioned him about the recent NIH cuts—such as federal layoffs and caps to “indirect costs” for research grants—Bhattacharya deferred to broad, vague statements.
“I wasn’t involved in the decision about the cap, but if I’m confirmed as NIH director, that’s something I’ll look very carefully at,” he said during the March 5 hearing.
“I don’t have any intention to cut anyone at the NIH,” Bhattacharya said, later adding that he “was not involved” in the personnel cuts.
He also said his work would align with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. The HHS is the parent organization of the NIH.
Bhattacharya is currently the director of Stanford's Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging, a role he has held since 2011.
He’s most well-known for co-authoring an open letter in October 2020 that called for an end to pandemic lockdowns, underscoring the power of herd immunity. In response, the World Health Organization and Anthony Fauci, M.D., among others, condemned the letter, arguing that the approach would be dangerous and wasn't based on strong scientific evidence.
Bhattacharya’s confirmation comes the same day as British-American surgeon Martin Makary, M.D., was chosen to lead the FDA. The Senate vote was another confirmed largely along party lines.
Makary is also known for his vocal criticism of pandemic regulations, such as masking.