Trump names Kolkata-born doctor-researcher to head NIH research powerhouse

US PresidentElect Donald Trump has named the Kolkataborn Jay Bhattacharya who raised questions about Covid policies to head the National Institutes of Health NIH the medical research powerhouseTrump announced Tuesday night that he was thrilled to nominate him for the job of directing the nations medical research and to make important discoveries that will improve health and save livesAccepting the offer Bhattacharya said on X We will reform American scientific institutions so that they are worthy of trust again and will deploy the fruits of excellent science to make America healthy againThe NIH an agglomeration of 27 separate research organisations dealing with different diseases and health issues has an annual budget of 48 billionDirectorship of NIH is not a cabinetlevel post but would require Senate approval and have an enormous global impact because of the range of its research that has cascading effects around the worldAlso Read Who is Jay Bhattacharya 5 things to know about Donald Trumps Kolkataorigin choice for head of NIHTrump said that Bhattacharya would work with Health Secretary nominee Robert F Kennedy Jr to restore NIH to a gold standard of medical research as they examine the underlying causes of solutions to Americas biggest health challenges including a crisis of chronic illness and diseaseBhattacharya is a multidisciplinary academic at Stanford University holding professorships in medicine economics and health professorship holding a medical degree and a PhD in economicsHe shot to national prominence during the Covid pandemic by questioning the prevalent orthodoxy of the government health establishment of imposing extended broad lockdowns to fight the disease and went headtohead with Anthony Fauci who was acclaimed as the architect of the official policyBhattacharya has asserted that he was the victim of government censorship because Twitter placed him on its Trends Blacklist under official influence limiting his reach on the social media platform now renamed XTrump noted in his post on Truth Social that Bhattacharya is a coauthor of The Great Barrington declaration an alternative to lockdowns proposed in October 2020Bhattacharya was one of the authors of the declaration a statement cosigned by doctors scientists and researchers that called for loosening the restrictions to release healthy young people from lockdowns through a policy of focused protection aimed at older people and those at greater riskThe declaration said that this would allow them normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection while better protecting those who are at highest riskThis played into the divide between the political establishments of the Democrats who were for strict lockdowns and RepublicansSome Republicanrun states like Florida which adopted aspects of the declaration did not have significantly lower statistics than Democratrun states like California that followed strict lockdowns while keeping school closures lowerAs the social and educational fallout of the lockdowns has emerged some former government officials who advocated those policies like former NIH Director Francis Collins have conceded that their narrow focus on lockdowns may have been unfortunateWhile Kennedy opposes vaccinations Bhattacharya does notKennedy advocates unorthodox treatments and theories which have come under criticism but his and Trumprsquos focus on chronic diseases has been praised by some criticsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever