Senator Marshall to NIH Director Nominee Dr. Bhattacharya: We Need to Get to the Bottom of the Chronic Disease Epidemic

Washington – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas) today participated in the confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director nominee, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, in the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).

Dr. Bhattacharya, M.D., PhD, is a professor of health policy at Stanford University, where he directs the Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. Having published 135 articles in top peer-reviewed scientific journals, Dr. Bhattacharya’s research has focused on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations with a particular emphasis on the role of government programs, biomedical innovation, and economics. Most recently, Dr. Bhattacharya focused on the epidemiology of COVID-19 and evaluated policy responses to the epidemic, advocating for focused protection over widespread lockdowns.

Senator Marshall questioned Dr. Bhattacharya on scientific progress, the concept of ‘Food is Medicine,’ and his strategy to tackle the chronic disease epidemic America is facing.

You may click HERE to watch Senator Marshall’s full remarks. 

Highlights from Dr. Bhattacharya’s confirmation hearing include: 

On humility as the key to scientific progress:

Senator Marshall: “As I listen to the conversation today, I’m reminded that we all should doubt our own infallibility, and we should doubt the infallibility of the NIH as well. I’m flabbergasted as I listen to this conversation of people that really have never been involved in the scientific process and that they don’t understand infallibility.”

Dr. Bhattacharya: “I agree with you about humility. That’s the key to scientific progress. We have to as scientists say we might be wrong, because when we meet data that disagrees with us, where we have ideas that we disagree with, maybe that other idea is right, and we’re the one that’s wrong. It’s only if I’m confirmed as NIH Director, I want to make sure that all the range of hypotheses are supported. That’s how you make progress. One of the reasons I think that we have not made progress in Alzheimer’s as much as we ought to have is because the NIH has not supported a sufficiently wide range of hypotheses.”

On the chronic disease epidemic and the concept of ‘Food is Medicine’:

Senator Marshall: “Let’s talk about chronic disease just for a second. The NIH has spent a disproportionate amount of money on research on diseases that impact a very small, minuscule amount of Americans. Meanwhile, 60% of Americans have a chronic disease. Speak a little bit about your vision of researching for figuring out the causes and treatments of chronic disease, specifically how food is medicine might be intertwined in your in your vision.”

Dr. Bhattacharya: “Senator, I think the chronic disease problem is something that the NIH ought to have done a better job in the last several decades. The mission of the NIH is to address the health needs the American people have, and to expand life expectancy of the American people and we have not achieved that. It’s flat-lined.”

“I think we should expand the set of ideas to address a problem that we don’t know how to address. The chronic disease problems in the United States are so broad. We need to have a lot more tolerance that the top scientists who control the ideas in their fields may be wrong. We need to allow other scientists who have other ideas, and food as medicine might be one of them, to have support.”

Senator Marshall: “Are you committed to helping us figure out the causes of these chronic diseases?”

Dr. Bhattacharya: “I absolutely am, Senator…That is the heart and soul of the Make America Healthy Again movement, and millions and millions of Americans have been looking to us to do that. If I’m confirmed, I absolutely commit to you.”