In a significant and contentious move within the US Department of Health and Human Services, Jay Bhattacharya, the current director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has also assumed the role of acting director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This unusual dual leadership position has been met with sharp criticism from the public health and research communities.
Bhattacharya's appointment follows a series of rapid leadership changes orchestrated by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This marks the third acting director for the CDC under Kennedy's tenure. The previous acting director, Susan Monarez, was reportedly removed after refusing to approve changes to vaccine recommendations proposed by advisors described as overwhelmingly anti-vaccine. She was briefly the first Senate-confirmed CDC director before this ousting.
Following Monarez, Jim O'Neill, a former Silicon Valley investor and ally of Peter Thiel, took over as acting CDC director. During his brief leadership, O'Neill approved a substantial revision to the CDC's childhood vaccine recommendations. Now, O'Neill is reportedly set to be nominated to lead the National Science Foundation, which is currently without a permanent director. While Bhattacharya, a health economist with a medical degree, may possess more traditional qualifications than O'Neill for the CDC role, many experts are questioning his leadership capabilities.
Concerns are amplified by Bhattacharya's record at the NIH. Under his directorship, the NIH has reportedly defunded or put on hold hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants, including substantial amounts for studies on major causes of death in America, impacting at least 304 clinical trials. Furthermore, a significant number of NIH institutes and centres, 16 out of 27, are currently without directors, a situation described as unprecedented. Insiders suggest Bhattacharya delegates much of his responsibility at the $47 billion agency to top officials, earning him the nickname "Podcast Jay" due to his frequent media appearances. Critics, such as Jenna Norton, an NIH program officer speaking in a personal capacity, anticipate that Bhattacharya will similarly delegate operational responsibilities at the CDC, viewing his role as primarily that of a "propagandist." Former National Institute of General Medical Sciences director Jeremy Berg echoed this sentiment, suggesting Bhatta charya will now have "two agencies to largely ignore." Kayla Hancock of Public Health Watch labelled the decision "malpractice against public health," citing the "chaotic and rudderless era" at the NIH under Bhattacharya and expressing concern over his increased responsibility at the CDC during a time when preventable diseases are reportedly resurging due to Kennedy's "deadly anti-vax agenda." There is also an expectation that Bhattacharya will, like O'Neill, endorse Kennedy's anti-vaccine initiatives, having already signed off on the controversial reduction in recommended childhood vaccinations at the CDC without scientific justification.
It is understood that Bhattacharya's tenure as acting CDC director will be temporary. The position of CDC director now requires Senate confirmation, and an acting director can only serve for 210 days from the vacancy date, which falls on March 25th. No nominee has yet been put forward by the President to fill the director role permanently.
Fuente Original: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/with-nih-in-chaos-its-controversial-director-is-taking-over-cdc-too/
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