Stanford’s Jay Bhattacharya emerges as top pick for Trump to be NIH director

According to the Washington Post’s report, Bhattacharya met Kennedy this week and impressed him with his set of ideas to overhaul the National Institutes of Health, a nearly $50 billion agency that oversees the nation’s biomedical research.

Trump’s transition team has not spoken about the development being reported. The Department of Health and Human Services, which will be led by Kennedy, oversees the NIH and other health agencies.

Bhattacharya has reportedly called for a shift in NIH’s focus toward funding research which is more innovative and reducing the influence of some of its longest-serving career officials, the report added.

Trump, while announcing the appointment of Kennedy as the head of Department of Health had said, “The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country.”

Jay Bhattacharya is currently a Professor of Health Policy at Stanford University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research. He directs Stanford’s Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging.