Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Senate HELP Committee questions Jay Bhattacharya on NIH vision, transparency and research priorities
Summary
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, President Trump’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee he would prioritize chronic disease, reproducibility and a culture of scientific dissent; senators pressed him on recent staffing and funding decisions at NIH and his specific policy views.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, President Trump’s nominee to be director of the National Institutes of Health, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Oct. 12, 2025, he would make chronic disease, reproducibility and ‘‘free and open debate’’ central to NIH policy if confirmed.
Bhattacharya opened by calling NIH ‘‘the crown jewel of American biomedical sciences’’ and laid out five goals: (1) focus research on chronic disease, (2) improve replicability and research integrity, (3) foster free scientific debate, (4) invest in high‑impact rather than only incremental science, and (5) regulate or restrict research that might pose pandemic risk. "Dissent is the very essence of science," he told senators, saying the agency should encourage respectful disagreement among…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
