Jay Bhattacharya — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Director, National Institutes of Health (since 2025)
Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Feb-Mar 2026)
Professor of medicine, economics, and health research policy at Stanford University (until March 2025)
M.D. and Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University
Co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration (2020)

Biography

Jayanta Bhattacharya is the 18th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2025, making him the first Indian American to lead the organization. He also served as the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from February to March 2026.

Trained as a physician and health economist, Bhattacharya earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.