The Harvard Plan Jay & Alan
Nov 5, 2025
Jay Bhattacharya, a health economist and director of the NIH, navigates a complex landscape of academia with Alan Garber, his former mentor and Harvard president. They dive into the transformation of their mentor-mentee relationship amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring Bhattacharya's controversial stance against lockdowns and the ensuing public and professional fallout. They also discuss the challenges faced by NIH under political pressures and the future of academic freedom, highlighting the stakes for researchers in an evolving scientific climate.
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Mentor Who Changed A Career
- Jay Bhattacharya idolized Alan Garber and chose him as his undergraduate honors thesis advisor, which pivoted Jay toward combining medicine and economics.
- Their mentor-student relationship later developed into decades of collaboration on health-economics research and grants.
Focused Protection Sparked A Deep Split
- The Great Barrington Declaration proposed 'focused protection' to let low-risk people resume normal life while protecting the vulnerable.
- The manifesto split public health opinion and became a political wedge during COVID debates.
Scrutiny After Dissenting On COVID
- Jay says Stanford investigated him over his COVID views and he felt the process was like an inquisition questioning his motives.
- He kept his job but experienced a sense of being blacklisted by parts of the establishment.