NIH Director Bhattacharya Gives First Public Remarks at NIH Council of Councils
On April 21, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya presented his vision for NIH during a meeting of the NIH Council of Councils. The Council consists of approximately 30 members, selected from the various NIH Institute and Center (IC) Advisory Councils, representatives nominated by the Office of the Director program offices, and broad lay representation. It advises the NIH Director on matters related to the policies and activities of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI). As previously reported by COSSA, Bhattacharya was confirmed as NIH Director in late March. During his first public remarks since being confirmed, he offered a vision for the future of NIH, which included improving the overall health of the population and prioritizing reproducibility in research.
Research Priorities
In line with Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial announcement that he would prioritize finding the cause of autism and associative conditions within six months, Bhattacharya announced a new initiative. According to Bhattacharya, NIH will develop a real-world data platform to create a database of people with autism and associative conditions that blends data from multiple sources, including public and private sectors. He further indicated that similar databases could be made for diseases using the same framework and announced a six-month implementation timeline. Bhattacharya also reinforced his priority of understanding and developing treatments for chronic diseases.
Bhattacharya went on to discuss his concerns regarding the reproducibility of research within NIH, arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic exasperated a lack of trust due to the “suppression” of scientist’s ability to dissent, particularly with respect to basic research. To encourage replication research, he announced that NIH will establish a new scientific journal to expand opportunities for researchers to win awards for replication research. In addition to replication research, Bhattacharya reinforced that he would prioritize making “big” advancements with NIH research and expressed his commitment to prohibiting gain-of-function research in the agency, which was also included in the NIH reform framework published by Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers last year (see previous COSSA coverage) and has been a source of controversy since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the Trump Administration
Earlier this month, a leaked HHS passback budget surfaced, sparking concern within the research community that NIH could see a budget reduction of nearly 40 percent in fiscal year (FY) 2026 (see related article). The document also included a reorganization proposal to collapse the 27 research institutes and centers into 8. These directives are notably more extreme than previous proposals made by Congress, including the aforementioned framework published by Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers and the fiscal year (FY) 2025 appropriations bill released by the House last July (see COSSA’s analysis). When questioned about the leaked budget, Bhattacharya reiterated that it was the “beginning of a negotiation” and that he would continue to advocate for NIH. He went on to clarify that any reorganization efforts should have a distinct purpose, and he claimed to have no intention of making any decisions without “lots of advice” from the community.
Finally, in reference to recent executive actions made by the Trump Administration, Bhattacharya argued that some disruptions are “good,” including the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative pioneered by the HHS Secretary (see list of EO’s here). He claimed that the mission of the NIH would continue despite the current scrutiny of the federal government, although he recognized concerns from researchers regarding research funding and reductions in force (RIFs).
A webcast of Bhattacharya’s remarks can be found here.