Trump appoints Jay Bhattacharya to lead NIH and collaborate with RFK Jr

President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya as the new director of the National Institutes of Health. Bhattacharya is known for opposing pandemic lockdowns and co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration in 2020. In his role, Bhattacharya will collaborate with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the incoming Health and Human Services Secretary. Trump stated that their goal is to restore the NIH's reputation in medical research. This appointment marks a shift in leadership at the NIH, focusing on alternative approaches to health challenges in the U.S. The situation is still developing.