Trump Nominates Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for NIH Director

President-elect Trump nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University health researcher and economist, to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

For Context: Bhattacharya is a professor of medicine, economics, and health research policy, and director of the Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging at Stanford University. He was one of three authors of The Great Barrington Declaration, an open letter that criticized the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and reported endorsements from over 50,000 health and science professionals. 

Key Quotes: Trump wrote, “Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America's biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease.” Bhattacharya wrote, “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 again!”

How the Media Covered It: Outlets on the left were more likely to frame Bhattacharya as a “skeptic” or “critic” in headlines, though outlets from the center or right sometimes did this as well. NPR (Lean Left bias) wrote that “many public health experts” regarded Bhattacharya’s perspective on COVID-19 policy as “unscientific and irresponsible.” It also highlighted several opinions critical of him. Fox News (Right bias) described Bhattacharya as a “prominent physician and economist” in its headline. Just The News (Lean Right bias) described him as a “critic.” The Hill (Center bias) did not include a descriptor in its headline.