Improving Science & Restoring Trust in Public Health | Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
My guest is Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Professor Emeritus of Health Policy at Stanford University.
June 9, 2025
4 hr 27 min
232
Full
308 of 417
Episode 232 · June 9, 2025
Improving Science & Restoring Trust in Public Health | Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
0:00 / 4:27:48
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
Andrew Huberman Episodes Around June 9, 2025
Episode 308 of 417 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
How Different Diets Impact Your Health | Dr. Christopher Gardner
Improving Science & Restoring Trust in Public Health | Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
Summary
My guest is Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Professor Emeritus of Health Policy at Stanford University. We discuss which scientific questions ought to be the priority for NIH, how to incentivize bold, innovative science especially from younger labs, how to solve the replication crisis and restore trust and transparency in science and public health, including acknowledging prior failures by the NIH. We discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and the data and sociological factors that motivated lockdowns, masking and vaccine mandates. Dr. Bhattacharya shares his views on how to resolve the vaccine–autism debate and how best to find the causes and cures for autism and chronic diseases. The topics we cover impact everyone: male, female, young and old and, given that NIH is the premier research and public health organization in the world, extend to Americans and non-Americans alike.
Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.
Thank you to our sponsors
AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman
David: https://davidprotein.com/huberman
Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman
Levels: https://levels.link/huberman
LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman
Timestamps
00:00:00 Jay Bhattacharya
00:06:56 National Institutes of Health (NIH), Mission
00:09:12 Funding, Basic vs. Applied Research
00:18:22 Sponsors: David & Eight Sleep
00:21:20 Indirect Costs (IDC), Policies & Distribution
00:30:43 Taxpayer Funding, Journal Access, Public Transparency
00:38:14 Taxpayer Funding, Patents; Drug Costs in the USA vs Other Countries
00:48:50 Reducing Medication Prices; R&D, Improving Health
01:00:01 Sponsors: AG1 & Levels
01:02:55 Lowering IDC?, Endowments, Monetary Distribution, Scientific Groupthink
01:12:29 Grant Review Process, Innovation
01:21:43 R01s, Tenure, Early Career Scientists & Novel Ideas
01:31:46 Sociology of Grant Evaluation, Careerism in Science, Failures
01:39:08 “Sick Care” System, Health Needs
01:44:01 Sponsor: LMNT
01:45:33 Incentives in Science, H-Index, Replication Crisis
01:58:54 Scientists, Data Fraud, Changing Careers
02:03:59 NIH & Changing Incentive Structure, Replication, Pro-Social Behavior
02:15:26 Scientific Discovery, Careers & Changing Times, Journals & Publications
02:19:56 NIH Grants & Appeals, Under-represented Populations, DEI
02:28:58 Inductive vs Deductive Science; DEI & Grants; Young Scientists & NIH Funding