During his confirmation hearing Wednesday to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya promised he would bring transparency and accountability to federal government-funded research.
Appearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Bhattacharya decried the government research establishment for abusing its authority during the COVID-19 pandemic and for attempting to silence dissenting voices within the scientific community.
“The NIH can and must solve the crisis of scientific data reliability,” Bhattacharya said in his opening statement.
“If confirmed, I will establish a culture of respect for free speech in science and scientific dissent at the NIH. Over the last few years, top NIH officials oversaw a culture of cover-up, obfuscation, and a lack of tolerance for ideas that differed from…
