Jay Bhattacharya is an Indian-American economist, physician, and anti-transgender activist. In 2025 Bhattacharya was appointed director of the US National Institutes of Health.
Background
Jayanta “Jay” Bhattacharya was born in 1968 in Kolkata, India. Bhattacharya attended Stanford University, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1990, followed by a medical degree in 1997 and a doctorate in 2000. Bhattacharya worked at the RAND Corporation and taught at UCLA. Bhattacharya was a research fellow at the Hoover Institution from 2006 to 2008.
Bhattacharya returned to Stanford to hold several appointments, including the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and the Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. Bhattacharya served as a research fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Bhattacharya became nationally known as an opponent of COVID-19 lockdowns from the start of the pandemic. Bhattacharya, Sunetra Gupta, and Martin Kulldorff co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which argued that avoiding lockdowns and providing “focused protections” for the medically vulnerable would lead to herd immunity. It was sponsored by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), a libertarian free-market think tank. The declaration was criticized by public health organizations and praised by the Trump Administration.
Anti-transgender activism
In 2023, J. Michael Bailey and “Suzanna Diaz” published an article in Archives of Sexual Behavior titled “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases.” The paper was later retracted by the publisher. Bhattacharya signed an open letter by FAIR in Medicine defending editor Kenneth Zucker.
Bhattacharya and Rav Arora co-hosted the Illusion of Consensus podcast and newsletter, described as “an independent, podcast-fuelled newsletter devoted to dismantling weaponized ‘consensus’ in science: COVID-19, transgender care, nutrition, and mental health,” writing:
We will be examining the illusory consensus during COVID but also branching out into issues pertaining to transgender care, mental health, psychiatry, and nutrition — topics that have been wholly corrupted by one monolithic consensus that has proven to bear many costs on our society.
In 2023, they added:
In line with our theme on The Illusion of Consensus, we will be hosting the relevant guests and breaking down areas of consensus most members of society have bought into, such as climate science, transgender “care,” treatment of diabetes, the origins of chronic pain, the gut-brain connection, using psychedelic therapy to treat trauma and depression, the dangers of antidepressants, how we wrongly approach mental health in the West, and so much more.
Guests included Colin Wright, Ethan Strauss, and Mike Hart.
ThirdRail
Bhattacharya was listed as an advisor to ThirdRail, a consultancy created to “facilitate innovation, leadership, and strategy sessions designed to breakthrough thinking without fear of judgment.” The participants include several prominent anti-trans activists, including Maud Maron, Michael Shellenberger, and Jennifer Sey. An article by Mother Jones noted that the consulting group says it helps “’neutralize’ ‘self-censoring environments’ and ‘counterproductive DEI initiatives.’ The group’s founder is former New York City Community Education Council president Maud Maron, who has crusaded against transgender inclusivity initiatives.”
Westminster Declaration
Bhattacharya was a signatory to The Westminster Declaration, a 2023 open letter signed by many key anti-transgender extremists. They claim to be a group of “free speech champions” who oppose the “censorship industrial complex.”
National Institutes of Health
In 2024, Bhattacharya was nominated by Donald Trump to head the National Institutes of Health. A press release by Treatment Action Group summarized Bhattacharya’s responses to confirmation hearing questions about transgender healthcare:
In response to a question about studies involving transgender people, Bhattacharya opined that NIH should be focused on conditions like obesity which, in his words, are “really hurting Americans.” Bhattacharya appeared unaware that transgender people are uniquely positioned to contribute to scientific understanding of the hormonal and chromosomal influences on well-known sex-based differences in the incidence of autoimmune disease and responses to infectious diseases[4],[5],[6],[7] (including HIV[8] and COVID-19[9]). This research benefits everyone, but cannot happen in the context of vicious, censorious attacks on the humanity, dignity, and right to exist of transgender people. Of note, Bhattacharya was a co-host of the “Illusion of Consensus” podcast: “An independent, podcast-fuelled newsletter devoted to dismantling weaponized ‘consensus’ in science: COVID-19, transgender care, nutrition, and mental health.”[10]
Bhattacharya was confirmed in March 2025.
References
Walsh, Dorrit (March 7, 2025). Treatment Action Group Opposes the Nomination of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. https://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/statement/treatment-action-group-opposes-the-nomination-of-dr-jay-bhattacharya-for-director-of-the-u-s-national-institutes-of-health/
Figliolia, Joseph (January 6, 2025). The NIH’s Ideological Approach to Gender Medicine. City Journal https://www.city-journal.org/article/jay-bhattacharya-nih-gender-medicine
Arora, Rav (Sep 04, 2024). What Gender Means for Sports and Society with Colin Wright. Illusion of Consensus https://www.illusionconsensus.com/p/what-gender-means-for-sports-and
Arora, Rav (Aug 01, 2024). Questions for Dr. Mike Hart! Illusion of Consensus https://www.illusionconsensus.com/p/questions-for-dr-mike-hart
Arora, Rav (Jan 10, 2024). 2023 In Review + We Need Your Help! Illusion of Consensus https://www.illusionconsensus.com/p/2023-in-review-we-need-your-help
Tratak, Sahar (June 19, 2023). Publisher Bows to Pressure, Retracts Paper Questioning ‘Gender-Affirming’ Care. National Review https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/publisher-bows-to-pressure-retracts-paper-questioning-gender-affirming-care/
Wright, Colin (June 12, 2023). Anatomy of a Scientific Scandal. City Journal https://www.city-journal.org/article/anatomy-of-a-scientific-scandal
Signatories (May 5, 2023). Open Letter in Support of Dr. Kenneth Zucker and the Need to Promote Robust Scientific Debate. https://www.fairforall.org/open-letters/archives-of-sexual-behavior/
Signatories (May 5, 2023). Open Letter re: Archives of Sexual Behavior. https://asbopenletter.com [archive]
Resources
ThirdRail (thirdrail.co) [archive]
- Jay Bhattacharya
- thirdrail.co/about [archive]
ASB Open Letter (asbopenletter.com) [archive]
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
X/Twitter (x.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Google Scholar (scholar.google.com)
- Jay Bhattacharya
- scholar.google.com/citations?user=2wH43aAAAAAJ