Senate Confirms Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to Serve as Director of NIH
- Addiction Policy Forum
- 24 hours ago
- 1 min read
Jayanta “Jay” Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., has officially taken office as the 18th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) following his nomination by President Trump in November and Senate confirmation in March.
As Director, Dr. Bhattacharya will lead the nation’s top medical research agency and align its work with the Administration’s Make America Healthy Again Commission. He succeeds Dr. Matthew J. Memoli, who has served as Acting Director since January.
“Under Dr. Bhattacharya’s leadership, NIH will restore its commitment to gold-standard science,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “I’m excited to work with him to ensure NIH research reflects our priorities—especially addressing the chronic disease epidemic.”
Dr. Bhattacharya, a Stanford-trained physician and economist, highlighted the importance of tackling chronic illnesses like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. “Breakthroughs in biomedical science are more critical than ever,” he said. “I will champion innovative, gold-standard research to improve health outcomes nationwide.”
A longtime professor at Stanford University, Dr. Bhattacharya has focused his research on aging, chronic disease, and the well-being of vulnerable populations.