Who is Jay Bhattacharya? Trump's Pick To Lead National Institutes Of Health

President-elect Donald Trump has picked economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, to lead the National Institutes of Health, which is US's leading medical research agency, where he will work in collaboration with Robert F.Kennedy Junior. Bhattacharya has been a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates previously. 

"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," Trump said on X.

Who is Dr. Jay Bhattacharya?

He is a 56-year old physician and professor at Stanford University School Of Medicine. He was born in Kolkata India in 1968, and earned hi BA and MA from Stanford University in 1990, following which he received his MD in 1997. He completed his PhD in Economics from Stanford in 2000. Bhattacharya is the director of Stanford's Center for Demography and Economics of Health And Aging.

Dr Bhattacharya was against lockdowns and mask mandates during the COVD-19 lockdown. He also co-authored Great Barrington Declaration where he advocated lifting pandemic restrictions on lower-risk groups to develop herd immunity.

Bhattachraya Has Elon Musk 's Support

Elon Musk endorsed Bhattacharya's election to the post, calling it a "Great Outcome".