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

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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

02:39:38 Grant Funding, Identity & Race; Shift in NIH Priorities

02:51:23 Public Trust & Science, COVID Pandemic, Lockdowns, Masks

03:04:41 Pandemic Mandates & Economic Inequality; Fear; Public Health & Free Speech

03:13:39 Masks, Harms, Public Health Messaging, Uniformity, Groupthink, Vaccines

03:22:48 Academic Ostracism, Public Health Messaging & Opposition

03:30:26 Culture of American Science, Discourse & Disagreement

03:36:03 Vaccines, COVID Vaccines, Benefits & Harms

03:47:05 Vaccine Mandates, Money, Public Health Messaging, Civil Liberties

03:54:52 COVID Vaccines, Long-Term Effects; Long COVID, Vaccine Injury, Flu Shots

04:06:47 Do Vaccines Cause Autism?; What Explains Rise in Autism

04:18:33 Autism & NIH; MAHA & Restructuring NIH?

04:25:47 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

Disclaimer & Disclosures

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8. In conversation with ITN Production’s Head of Industry News Nina Harrison-Bell