Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who has faced restrictions on social media platforms because of his views, was a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

WASHINGTON — President elect Donald J. Trump announced on Tuesday night that he would nominate Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford professor of health policy and outspoken critic of the nation’s public health system, to lead the National Institutes of Health.

ToplinePresident-elect Donald Trump nominated Stanford University physician and economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health on Tuesday, a move that would hand the reigns of the country’s premier medical research agency to a noted critic of COVID-19 lockdown measures and a proponent of “herd immunityKey FactsBhattacharya,

Bhattacharya claims that the NIH is shutting down alternative perspectives, claiming figures in the agency such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years, were too powerful.

Bhattacharya and O’Neill join Robert F. Kennedy, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Martin Makary, former Rep. Dave Weldon and Dr. Janette Nesheiwat in the incoming Trump administration.

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates, to lead the National Institutes of Health.

The Stanford-trained physician and economist, who won GOP support after pushing back on covid lockdowns, is said to have impressed RFK Jr., Donald Trump’s pick to lead HHS.