A physician, Stanford professor of medicine and senior fellow at the university's Institute for Economic Policy Research, Bhattacharya was a leading voice during the COVID-19 pandemic against lockdown measures and vaccine mandates. (Getty Images)
Bhattacharya was probed by the Senate HELP Committee earlier this month over various issues related to his potential role as NIH director. However, for much of the hearing he was forced to defend the president's decision to cut certain research funds at NIH, including a 15% cap on indirect research costs, also known as facilities and administrative costs, dispersed by the NIH.
Bhattacharya would not explicitly say he disagreed with the cuts, or that, if confirmed, he would step in to stop them. Rather, he said he would "follow the law," while also investigating the impact of the cuts and ensuring every NIH researcher doing work that advances the health outcomes of Americans has the resources necessary.
"I think transparency regarding indirect costs is absolutely worthwhile. It's something that universities can fix by working together to make sure that where that money goes is made clear," Bhattacharya said of the indirect costs going to universities, hospitals and research clinics from the NIH.
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Jayanta Bhattacharya testifies during a US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing on his nomination to be Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, on March 5, 2025. ((Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images))
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Prior to his confirmation, Bhattacharya, alongside several other scientists, including Trump's pick to head the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, launched a new research journal focused on spurring scientific discourse and combating "gatekeeping" in the medical research community. The journal, titled the Journal of the Academy of Public Health (JAPH), aims to spur scientific discourse by publishing peer reviews of prominent studies from other journals that do not make their peer reviews publicly available.
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