iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
President Donald Trump’s nominee for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s post, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, expressed concern about the chronic disease crisis in America and committed to addressing the dire chronic health needs of the U.S. with cutting-edge science and innovation if he is confirmed.
He also wants NIH funding to study population aging chronic disease and obesity.
Dr. Bhattacharya said in his testimony during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, March 5.
“The NIH can and must solve the crisis of scientific data reliability, under my leadership if confirmed it will do so. Third, if confirmed, I will establish a culture of respect for free speech in science and scientific descent at the NIH. Over the last few years, top NIH officials oversaw a culture of cover-up and a lack of tolerance for ideas that differed from theirs. I’ll foster a culture where NIH leadership will actively encourage different perspectives and create an environment where scientists who disagree with me can express disagreement respectfully.
“Fourth on my agenda is that the NIH must recommit to its mission to fund the most Innovative biomedical research agenda possible to improve American Health. I plan to ensure that the NIH invests in cutting-edge research in every field to make big advances rather than just small incremental progress over the years. Fifth, the NIH must embrace and vigorously regulate risky research that has the possibility of causing a pandemic. It should embrace transparency in all its operations. While the vast majority of biomedical research poses no risk of harm to research subjects or the public, the NIH must ensure that it never supports work that might cause harm. If confirmed, I will work with Congress and the administration to guarantee that happens. While I believe there are real problems to be addressed. 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,” he said.
“Post-pandemic American biomedical sciences are at a crossroads. A study by Pew Research Center reported in November 2024 that only 26% of the American public had a great deal of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interest, and 23% have not much or no confidence at all. So, how can I help the NIH better achieve its mission? The NIH has played a pivotal role in my career. I served for a decade as a standing member of NIH grant committees and helped train many trainees for scientific careers with NIH support. I want NIH funding to study population aging chronic disease and obesity. I’ve made the study of scientific institutions, including the NIH itself, a focus of my own scientific work. The NIH is the crown jewel of American Biomedical Sciences with a long and illustrious history of supporting breakthroughs in biology and medicine,” Bhattacharya said.
“I have five concrete goals if confirmed as director of the NIH. First, NIH should focus on research that solves the American chronic disease crisis. American Health is going backwards. Life expectancy flatlined between 2012 and 2019 and plummeted during the pandemic and still has not bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. The chronic disease crisis is severe, with hundreds of millions of Americans, children and adults suffering from obesity, heart disease, cancer and more. If confirmed, I will carry out President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s agenda of committing the NIH to address the dire chronic health needs of the country with gold-standard science and innovation. NIH-supported science should be replicable, reproducible, and generalizable. Unfortunately, much of our modern biomedical science fails this basic test. Last year, the NIH itself faced a research integrity scandal involving research on Alzheimer’s disease that throws into question hundreds of research papers. If the data generated by scientists is not reliable, the products of such science cannot help anyone. It is no stretch to think that the slow progress on Alzheimer’s disease is linked to this problem,” Bhattacharya, a Stanford University professor of medicine, added.
Bhattacharya said he is open to funding new studies investigating links between vaccines and autism — a theory that has been debunked by decades of research. Bhattacharya said during his confirmation hearing that he doesn’t “generally believe” there’s a link between vaccines and autism. He, however, didn’t rule out devoting funding to new research, noting the wide public distrust of vaccines and the fact that scientists still don’t know what’s causing rising autism rates.
“I would support a broad scientific agenda, based on data, to get an answer to that,” Bhattacharya said.
Discussions on NIH resources dominated Bhattacharya’s hearing. NIH has a budget of nearly $50 billion, and it is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world. In February, the Trump administration suspended NIH reviews of new grant applications, preventing it from funding new research, and adopted a policy that reduced indirect funding to universities. This move has caused apprehension among experts who fear that it could stall progress in developing lifesaving treatments.
“I am deeply concerned about the funding and the research that has been stopped,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., told Bhattacharya, adding that she wants “strong assurances” that he would “get that moving again”.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., asked him, “If confirmed, will you commit to reversing funding freezes at NIH?”
Though Bhattacharya dodged the questions by saying that he hasn’t yet been confirmed to lead the NIH, he also assured to look into it. “I’m going to assess it Day 1. I’m going to understand the resources the whole NIH needs and make sure that the scientists working at NIH have resources to do the lifesaving work that they do and that the scientists that are supported by the NIH also have that,” he said.
Bhattacharya said he doesn’t support further job cuts when questioned about billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s initiative to reduce federal spending across the federal government. “I don’t have any intention to cut anyone at the NIH,” Bhattacharya said.
(Photo courtesy: x.com/DrJBhattacharya)
