Bhattacharya M.D. ’97 tapped to lead the CDC amid leadership change

Former Stanford Medical School professor Jay Bhattacharya B.A. ’89 M.A. ’90 M.D. ’97 Ph.D. ’00 has been tapped to serve as the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to two administration officials. 

In March, Bhattacharya was confirmed as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — a position he will retain while overseeing the CDC. The White House will select a nominee for permanent director of the CDC in the coming weeks, who the Senate must confirm before they assume the role.

By retaining his role as NIH director while overseeing the CDC, Bhattacharya will act in a rare dual leadership position at two of the federal government’s most significant health institutions. According to the New York Times, some former CDC officials have called the task “nearly impossible.” Bhattacharya entered his role at the NIH on March 25, following the organization’s cuts to Stanford funding by approximately $160 million per year.

Bhattacharya’s appointment is part of an ongoing reshuffling of Health and Human Services (HHS) department leadership orchestrated by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the White House. 

The transition will mark the third leadership shift at the CDC in less than a year. Last summer, former CDC director Susan Monarez was confirmed by the Senate, but was abruptly removed from the position amid disagreements with HHS leadership over vaccine policy. HHS deputy secretary Jim O’Neill then served as acting director before his recent departure; he is now being considered for nomination to lead the National Science Foundation.

While a professor at Stanford, Bhattacharya rose to national prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as a vocal critic of widespread lockdowns, mandatory masking and other public health measures implemented to curb viral spread. He co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD), which called for a strategy of “focused protection” rather than broad restrictions. 

The GBD drew sharp rebukes from many public health leaders, including the head of the World Health Organization, who called pursuing herd immunity “unethical.” Trump advisor and senior Hoover fellow Scott Atlas, however, expressed his support for the declaration.

Two weeks ago, Bhattacharya notably endorsed the measles vaccine in the midst of the largest U.S. outbreak in decades and stated that he has seen no scientific evidence linking vaccines to autism.

The CDC itself has recently been at the center of high-profile controversies, including a reduction in the number of childhood vaccines recommended for universal administration and a re-evaluation of guidance on newborn hepatitis B immunization. 

Bhattacharya himself criticized the CDC in an X post in 2024. “The CDC peddled pseudo science in the middle of a pandemic,” he wrote.

With public trust in the CDC’s guidance lower than in previous decades, Bhattacharya’s tenure will require his leadership to fulfill its mission to prevent and control disease. 

The Trump administration indicated that it plans to nominate a candidate for permanent CDC director, but that individual will face a Senate confirmation process that has, in recent years, grown increasingly politicized. Until then, Bhattacharya will steer an agency whose work directly influences millions of Americans’ health decisions and outcomes.

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