Why Dr. Jay Bhattacharya shouldn't be the new NIH Director
Evidence of his lack of rigor and competence
Trump just nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya as Director of the National Institute for Health (NIH). This is a great choice from the freedom of speech perspective but a terrible one from the competency and scientific rigor perspective.
Don't get me wrong: if I didn't know of Bhattacharya’s mistakes, I would also support him! Sadly, over the years, he displayed undeniable evidence of low rigor and willingness to admit his mistakes – both of which should disqualify him from becoming the next NIH Director. You can find a few examples below.
Here, Bhattacharya cites a study in which people with COVID had less headache and nausea than the control group without wondering if that might point to a flaw in the study design.
(The sources and links for this and all subsequent screenshots can be found at the bottom of this post.)
Here, Bhattacharya is again showing a lack of rigor. He points to the Cochrane review as evidence that masks do not work, but that study did not provide such evidence. Again, did he even read the studies and methodologies? Does he even care?
Here, Bhattacharya makes fun of people who recommended to stop shaking hands – while omitting that in an interview dated May 2020, he mentioned hand washing as a protective measure against COVID.
Is that the behavior of a rigorous person?
Here is Bhattacharya citing a study that actually recommends lockdowns as if it didn’t.
Does he read what he cites?
Does he hope his audience does not?
Here, you get an idea of Bhattacharya's position on what constitutes a healthy society.
Here is an open letter I wrote to Bhattacharya and his colleagues, pointing out serious flaws in their reasoning. They never replied to the points raised. Not what someone who is rigorous or cares about the population would do.
Finally, here he says India should not vaccinate right before they had a major wave of deaths.
I could go on, but you get the point: while his free speech stance is laudable, Dr. Bhattacharya lacks the rigor and competence to lead the NIH.
You can find more examples and the sources for this thread's screenshots here.
Being pro-free speech is important but shouldn’t be the whole NIH Director job description. In addition to that, there must also be at least a baseline of rigor and competence. Otherwise, the next pandemic will be another tragedy, and the pendulum will swing back toward authoritarianism.