Who is Jay Bhattacharya? Donald Trump's pick to lead the National Institutes of Health

US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American scientist Jay Bhattacharya as the new director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the leading US health research and funding body. This makes Bhattacharya the first Indian-American chosen by Trump for a major administrative role.

Bhattacharya was born in 1968 in Kolkata, India. He completed both his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees at Stanford University in 1990, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1997.

In 2000, Bhattacharya also completed a Ph.D. in economics at Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences. Bhattacharya, a professor of Health Policy at Stanford University, also holds positions as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a senior fellow at multiple Stanford institutes, including the Hoover Institution. He directs the Centre for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging at Stanford and specializes in research related to the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, focusing on government programs, biomedical innovation, and economic factors.

Trump highlighted Bhattacharya’s qualifications, noting that his work would include collaboration with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to advance the nation’s medical research, tackling major health challenges and striving to restore the NIH to its peak standards of research. Bhattacharya is known for co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration in 2020, which opposed lockdowns and advocated for targeted protection strategies.

In addition, Trump nominated Jim O'Neill as deputy secretary of Health and Human Services to support Kennedy in overseeing operations and enhancing transparency and accountability. O'Neill, who previously led FDA reforms to strengthen food safety and drug regulation, will assist in Trump's mission to "Make America Healthy Again."