HIV and vaccine denialist is proposed to head the US NIH: further alarm for global science
7 March 2025. Related: Treatment advocacy.
NOTE: On 25 March Jay Bhattacharya was appointed by the US Senate in a 53-47 vote, supported by all Republicans.
Simon Collins, HIV i-Base
Global collaborative science will be further destroyed this month if the US Congress approves Jay Bhattacharya as the head of the US National Institute of Health (NIH). [1]
The annual NIH budget is almost $US 50 billion.
On 7 March 2025, two days before the opening of CROI, the largest and most prominent annual US HIV scientific conference, Dr Bhattachary was proposed for the NIH post by President Trump. This is likely because of his political affiliations to right-wing organisations in the US, but perhaps Martin Shkreli wasn’t available?
Bhattachary has publicly defended prominent HIV denialists and vaccine denialists. He has no significant medical or research history. [1]
The nomination has already been challenged by scientists and activists. Congress should deny this appointment based on ethical, moral and scientific grounds.
Further details are in the press release published today by US activist organisation TAG.
CROI is being held this year from 9 to 12 March in San Francisco. i-Base will be posting further news and reports from this important meeting.
comment
The annual NIH budget is close to US$ 50 billion.
A wrecking ball metaphor for the impact of the first weeks of the Trump administration is not hyperbole, but a reaction from otherwise politically reserved scientific institutions, such as the publication Nature.
“US President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to science and to international institutions. The global research community must take a stand against these attacks… an assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere’. [3]
An open access editorial in the similarly scientifically rigorous journal Annals of Internal Medicine this month was titled “Damage control in the wake of political action that threatens the integrity of medical research”. The journal explains the extensive measures they now actively undertake in order to ensure some of the most important research is still published. [4]
Last week, an unexpected off-line notice for the international PubMed online trials registry triggered shivers in anyone who understands the essential value of PubMed. [5]
Next week though it might be more that an intermittent server glitch.
Our science is being dismantled in plain sight.
References
- Treatment Action Group Opposes the Nomination of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. (7 March 2025).
www.treatmentactiongroup.org/statement/treatment-action-group-opposes-the-nomination-of-dr-jay-bhattacharya-for-director-of-the-u-s-national-institutes-of-health/ - Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025).
www.croiconference.org/ - Nature. Editorial (25 February 2025).
www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00562-w - Annals of Internal Medicine. Editorial. Damage Control in the Wake of Political Action That Threatens the Integrity of Medical Research. (4 March 2025).
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-25-00985 - Nature. ‘Omg, did PubMed go dark?’ Blackout stokes fears about database’s future. (4 March 2025).
www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00674-3