Jay Bhattacharya

Director (18th Director of NIH), National Institutes Of Health

Search every verified Jay Bhattacharya interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Jay Bhattacharya, the 18th Director of the National Institutes of Health, has been a prominent figure in recent Senate hearings regarding the NIH budget and its research priorities. He has testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee, defending the NIH's mission to "turn scientific discovery into better health outcomes and longer life for the American people," a goal he described as central to the "Make America Healthy Again" initiative. Bhattacharya stated that the NIH is intensifying investment in research on chronic disease, nutrition science, and prevention, and he has emphasized the need to broaden the geographic scope of NIH funding, noting that about a third of the portfolio goes to roughly 20 institutions. He has also expressed support for programs such as the HEAL Initiative for addiction and the Special Diabetes Program. Bhattacharya has continued to discuss his past opposition to lockdowns and vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, describing the policies as having "absolutely devastating consequences." He has stated that his current focus is on "depoliticization" of the NIH and has said he is "deeply against ban word lists" in research. During a Senate hearing, Senator Brian Schatz pressed Bhattacharya over cuts to health disparities research, calling the situation "ridiculous," to which Bhattacharya responded that any research must be "actionable, rigorous, and in scope," adding that this is "not DEI research" but research addressing fundamental health needs. Bhattacharya has also stated that the published biomedical literature is "not reliable" and has outlined plans to improve scientific rigor and transparency.