Indian-American scientist Jay Bhattacharya has been confirmed by the US Senate as the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the country바카라s top health research and funding institutions.
Bhattacharya, a professor of Health Policy at Stanford University, was confirmed by a 53-47 vote on Tuesday, according to the official website of the US Senate.
US President Donald Trump, then the President-elect, nominated Bhattacharya as the 18th NIH Director in November last year.
"Dr. Bhattacharya will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to direct the Nation바카라s Medical Research and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives," Trump had said.
During his hearing, Bhattacharya said he understands science and public health have become politicised, and many no longer trust health officials or experts, according to The Hill.
The NIH should support science which is 바카라replicable, reproducible, and generalisable,바카라 Bhattacharya said. 바카라Unfortunately, much of modern biomedical science fails this basic test,바카라 the news portal quoted him as saying.
바카라If confirmed, I will carry out President Trump and (Health and Human Service) Secretary Kennedy바카라s agenda of Making America Healthy Again and committing the NIH to address the dire chronic health needs of the country with gold-standard science and innovation,바카라 he said.
In a statement on Tuesday, Stanford Medicine "proudly" congratulated Bhattacharya on his appointment and called his commitment to public service "commendable".
"As an institution, we are staunch supporters of the NIH's mission, which continues to advance the frontiers of medical knowledge and unlock new possibilities for health improvement," it said.
US Senator from Kentucky Mitch McConnell took to X and said, "Voted today to confirm Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health. With an extensive background in medical research, I expect @DrJBhattacharya to provide sound leadership at the @NIH."
Bhattacharya is a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an alternative to lockdowns proposed in October 2020. His peer-reviewed research has been published in Economics, Statistics, Legal, Medical, Public Health, and Health Policy Journals. He holds an MD and PhD in Economics from Stanford University.
