5 Things to Know About Jay Bhattacharya, Trump’s Choice for NIH Director

The physician holds multiple doctoral degrees, won a prominent award for intellectual freedom, and has been a vocal critic of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of medicine at Stanford University and one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, in Hartford, Conn., on Feb. 17, 2023. Tal Atzmon/The Epoch Times

President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 26 chose Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University health policy professor, to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), putting a physician who was a vocal opponent of COVID-19 lockdowns in charge of the nation’s leading medical research agency.

“Dr. Bhattacharya will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to direct the nation’s medical research and to make important discoveries that will improve health and save lives,” Trump said in a statement.