Who is Jay Bhattacharya

And why you will like him ... I hope

Who is Jay Bhattacharya:

I have recently introduced Dr. Marty Makary to you, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FDA. Now I’d like to bring you up to speed on DJT’s pick to head the NIH. I read that Jayanta (Jay) Bhattacharya means ‘one who is victorious in the end’ in the Bengali language. And indeed that name would seem fitting considering how he got here and where he is headed.

I briefly met the man much earlier in the COVID follies as we were in attendance at a meeting that allowed for our mutual dissent from the expert opinions that were in control at the time. This was after the now-famous Great Barrington Declaration, of which he was an author and I an early signatory.

To refresh your memories, The Great Barrington Declaration was a document released in October 2020 that criticized the COVID response. It critiqued the lockdowns, called for ‘targeted’ protective measures for the highest risk groups and advocated for a rapid return to normalcy. Of course these were subversive ideas at the time (and for many, still are). Coming from prestigious Stanford University, writing this document became an act of courage unto itself. Dr. Bhattacharya faced massive criticism and censorship on social media and was considered a “misinformation spreader” by many.

Later we learned that government officials (in an email from NIH Director Francis Collins to Anthony Fauci) colluded to orchestrate a “quick and devastating takedown” of the declaration and its authors. Fauci called them “fringe epidemiologists.” That email was sent on October 14, 2020 - as soon as the declaration was released.

The declaration didn’t come out of the blue, nor from some gut feeling nor a desire to be ornery. It was based in part on a study (the Santa Clara study) that Dr. Bhattacharya participated in, wherein through testing serologies, it was found that something on the order of 50 to 85X more people had already had COVID than was suggested by the reported prevalence rates. Many of these folks had been asymptomatic or minimally so, suggesting that the lethality of the virus was far less than what was being portrayed.

The NIH grants upwards of $50 billion per year towards research and thus controls the tenor and direction of our scientific progress. By now you know that with the regulatory agency capture that we have witnessed, these research projects are largely driven by monetary interests as opposed to civilizational needs. With Dr. Bhattacharya’s own experience being a victim of said agencies, one would have high hopes that he will do what is needed to reform the NIH and return its mission to its original intent.

With a background in economics as well as public health, he has the experience to guide NIH policy in a new direction. Dr. Bhattacharya received the Robert J. Zimmer Medal for Intellectual Freedom - just what we need about now. Hopefully this appointment translates into releasing our scientific prowess to pursue meaningful research that will have a real impact on longevity and quality of life.

Dr. Bhattacharya has proven himself to be an innovative thinker, a common sense researcher and a brave voice in uncertain times. All of these qualities lead me to believe that his tenure at the NIH (if approved) will be a consequential one for the betterment of our country. And certainly, with Robert F Kennedy, Jr and Dr. Marty Makary and others, this could be a formidable team whose impact will be felt for decades to come. That would make Jayanta Bhattacharya (and the country) victorious in the end.

In health,

DocofLastResort