Trump Picked a Health Economist to Lead the N.I.H. It’s Not a Bad Idea.

The National Institutes of Health is the United States’ primary medical research agency. It is renowned worldwide for funding and leading science that has transformed the understanding of disease and spurred lifesaving medical treatments.

It has historically been overseen by medical scientists and clinicians. President Trump’s nominee to direct the N.I.H., Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, is a physician, too, but he’s mostly known as a health economist. As he faces a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, his nomination invites the question: Can a sharper focus on costs, incentives and efficiency improve American medical research?

Dr. Bhattacharya’s work, in part funded by the N.I.H., has spanned important areas of public health, including the role of government in driving medical innovation and the role of foreign assistance in broadening H.I.V. care globally. I’ve worked with him, and we have published multiple studies together. He has received criticism from some for his Covid views (and support from others), including those in the Great Barrington Declaration, which he wrote with two others. But he is very bright, thinks seriously about how the tools of economics can improve health and finds excitement in his research.

His confirmation hearing comes at a tricky time for the N.I.H. and the institutions and scientists it funds. The recent announcement that the N.I.H. will significantly reduce funding that research institutions rely on to cover indirect costs sparked outcry from scientists and research institutions, followed by legal challenges.

While efforts to improve efficiency are important, rapid overcorrection of the nation’s medical research infrastructure will have significant societal impact. Changes — if they are reforms — could create progress. But not through indiscriminate cuts.

At its core, the primary objective of the N.I.H. is economic: to best allocate public dollars across many thousands of potential investments, each of which aims to improve health, lengthen life and reduces illness and disability — the N.I.H.’s mission.