‘How is he going to have the time?’ NIH staff voice concern as Bhattacharya takes on CDC role | US healthcare

A.As Jay Bhattacharya temporarily takes the lead at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), staffers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where Bhattacharya is the permanent director, fear his attention will wane further unless critical problems at the research agency are addressed.

Bhattacharya first rose to prominence as a fierce opponent of Covid mitigation and became a close ally of health minister Robert F Kennedy Jr. Under their watch, the NIH sharply abbreviated Its funding of researchers, particularly studies on race and gender, has faced hiring freezes for some employees and increased health care spending at the agency.

One meeting In January, Ian Morgan, a postdoctoral researcher at NIH and fellow of NIH Fellows United-UAW 2750, stood up to ask whether there had been a dramatic increase in health insurance costs for early-career scientists employed by NIH. With a new baby on the way, she’s worried about making ends meet with her federal job.

“What can we actually do to support early career researchers like me who are struggling to make ends meet?” he asked, and other employees applauded.

Bhattacharya, who has repeatedly said that paving the way for more innovative early-career researchers is a priority for him, appears unaware of the problem.

“I honestly don’t know the answer to that question,” Bhattacharya said. “Come talk to me and we’ll figure this out,” he added, prompting Morgan to send an email to schedule a meeting.

But that meeting still hasn’t happened. Morgan says the director was too busy to meet with him when he emailed to set up a time.

“If he is too busy to solve the real problems facing scientists at NIH, how will he now find the time to run things with this extra role?” Morgan said he spoke to the Guardian personally and as a union representative.

“There are a lot of things we need to do right now,” Morgan said. “We don’t know what to do right now because he needs to make a decision and it seems like he’s too busy to do anything about it.”

The job of NIH director is monumental, overseeing a $48.7 billion portfolio as one of the leading research institutions in the world.

“The NIH director position has always been a full-time job for anyone who holds it, and no one has ever seen it as a part-time job before,” said Shiv Prasad, a scientific review officer at NIH, speaking personally.

Prasad said researchers stepping back from an important step early in their careers is a “crisis in the pipeline” of science in America. “This points to the future of science; if we cannot retain very bright and motivated young people in science, it will be bad for science and bad for the country.”

However, the success rate for early career scientists applying for R01 grants dropped from 26.1% in fiscal 2024 to 18.9% in fiscal 2025. based on According to NIH data. Grants have only become marginally more competitive, with a 1% increase in applications over the same period.

The absence of institute and center directors is another factor that worries employees. More than half (16) of NIH’s 27 institutes and centers are led by acting directors; that rate is higher than Prasad has seen in his three decades at NIH. Permanent directors set research priorities, carry out their institutions’ missions, and distribute funds appropriated by Congress.

“I think the concern here is that the search for a director is not following normal processes,” Prasad said.

And he expressed concerns that Bhattacharya was spending most of his time on speaking engagements.

“It’s unfortunate that he spends a significant amount of time addressing right-wing podcasts or right-wing conventions and perhaps finds time for NIH in between those appearances,” Prasad said.

He said last week that Bhattacharya is assembling a leadership team at NIH. podcast Why Should I Trust You? He said: “I have worked hard over the last year to establish a leadership team at NIH, a set of ideas and priorities… and I work to stay in constant communication with them.”

It is widely accepted that Matthew Memoli, NIH’s principal deputy administrator, runs the agency, according to other employees and media reports.

“Even if he’s running things, it’s not as effective as having the NIH administrator do the work there,” Morgan said. “You can do things beyond the limits, but we need a director.”

Stanford Law School professor Anne Joseph O’Connell said assigning tasks to lawmakers makes it difficult to know who is responsible for what decisions.

O’Connell said the Senate-confirmed director of one agency could temporarily assume leadership of a second or even third agency.

“I should point out that what might be legal is not necessarily desirable,” he said. “Even with a second job, we have to worry about it hurting management. It’s hard to do two full-time jobs.”

Bhattacharya becomes the CDC’s fourth leader in a year. He will be able to serve as acting director until March 25, which is 210 days since the last confirmed director left office.

“The Administrator has authorized the NIH leadership team to ensure that the agency’s priorities continue to move forward until the president nominates and the Senate confirms a permanent CDC director,” HHS press secretary Emily G Hilliard said. “The CDC leadership team is working closely with Dr. Bhattacharya to continue to protect and serve the American people during this acting period.”

Prasad emphasized that “CDC also needs a person to work there full time.”

“My CDC colleagues also need someone in this job who devotes their full attention to the needs of the CDC. And I think they’re going to suffer because their director is going to be part-time, too,” he said.

In the past, Bhattacharya had managed to allay some concerns, such as easing the freeze on hiring of postdoctoral researchers, when he was given notice.

“It actually helped bring at least some attention to the problem of being able to hire postdoctoral researchers, and although there are still a few restrictions on that, we can now hire postdoctoral researchers,” Morgan said.

“Part of doing the job is being there, meeting with people, and using the influence you have as NIH administrator to make sure things go smoothly. And if you’re not there, if you can’t do that, things are going to break down. Things that are supposed to happen aren’t going to happen.”