Indian-American scientist Jay Bhattacharya has been appointed by US President-elect Donald Trump to lead the National Institutes of Health, one of the nation's leading funding and research organizations for health.

This makes Bhattacharya the first Indian-American to receive Trump's nomination for a high-level administrative role.


Trump previously appointed Tesla owner Elon Musk and Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy to head the newly established Department of Government Efficiency. That is a voluntary stance, though, and the US Senate does not need to confirm it.
"I am overjoyed to propose Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, to be the National Institutes of Health's director. Together with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Bhattacharya will lead the nation's medical research and produce significant findings that will advance health and save lives, Trump declared.
"As they investigate the root causes of and potential solutions for America's greatest health issues, such as our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease, Jay and RFK Jr. will work together to return the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research. They'll put in a lot of effort together to "Make America Healthy Again," he declared.


At Stanford University, Bhattacharya teaches health policy. He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research .

He directs Stanford's Centre for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. His research focuses on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, emphasising the role of government programmes, biomedical innovation, and economics.