NEW YORK, N.Y. — Jay Bhattacharya, a physician and economist who currently leads the National Institutes of Health, has been appointed acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, assuming leadership of the nation’s top public health agency amid continued turmoil within the federal health establishment.
Bhattacharya will serve simultaneously as head of both the NIH and the CDC, a move he confirmed in an interview with NBC News, validating earlier media reports. His appointment follows months of leadership instability at the Atlanta-based agency.
The CDC has experienced rapid turnover at the top since last year. Susan Monarez was removed as director in August after less than a month in the role following disagreements with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines. Deputy Health Secretary Jim O’Neill was subsequently named interim head of the agency, a position now taken over by Bhattacharya.
Born in Kolkata, Bhattacharya holds a medical degree as well as a Ph.D. in economics. Before entering government service, he was a professor at Stanford University’s medical school. He was appointed NIH director by President Donald Trump.
Bhattacharya rose to national prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic for publicly challenging the prevailing federal health strategy, particularly extended, broad-based lockdowns. His views brought him into direct conflict with Anthony Fauci, a central figure in shaping the government’s pandemic response, and elevated Bhattacharya’s profile among critics of mainstream public health policy.
The CDC operates with a budget of approximately $9.7 billion and oversees efforts to monitor, prevent, and control public health threats in the U.S. and globally. Its work spans infectious diseases, food-borne illnesses, environmental health hazards, chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes, as well as occupational safety and injury prevention across a network of 25 centers and institutes.
The NIH, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, manages a significantly larger research budget of about $48 billion and includes 27 institutes and centers. Its mandate covers in-house biomedical research and the funding of external studies through grants.
Another Indian American physician, Vinay Prasad, also holds a senior position within the federal health system. Prasad serves as director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which oversees the safety and effectiveness of biologics, including vaccines and gene therapies. He briefly stepped down from the role in July before returning in August at the request of FDA leadership. (Source: IANS)
