Senate confirms Trump's picks to lead NIH and FDA

ByEmma Bascom

Fact checked byMindy Valcarcel, MS

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Key takeaways:

The senate confirmed Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, to lead the NIH and Martin Makary, MD, MPH, to lead the FDA.
The votes were largely along party lines.

The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm the heads of two major federal health agencies.

Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, will become the NIH director, and Martin Makary, MD, MPH, will become the FDA commissioner. Both Bhattacharya and Makary will report to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was confirmed last month.

The vote to confirm Bhattacharya was 53-47, along party lines; the vote for Makary was 56-44, with three Democratic senators joining the Republicans: Maggie Hassan, from New Hampshire; Jeanne Shaheen, also of New Hampshire and Richard J. Durbin, of Illinois.

John Hickenlooper, a Democrat from Colorado, joined Hassan and the Republicans on March 13, when the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) voted to advance the nominations, but he ultimately voted against the confirmation.

In his hearing with the HELP committee, Bhattacharya, who is also a Stanford University professor of health policy, was questioned on government transparency, NIH cuts to biomedical research and the safety of vaccines.

Amesh A. Adalja, MD, an infectious disease, bioterrorism and emergency medicine specialist and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, previously told Healio that, when he appeared before the HELP committee, Bhattacharya seemed to straddle both sides of the fence on a major issue — whether vaccines cause autism — which indicated “a major lack of integrity.”

Meanwhile, Makary, a surgeon and public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, responded to questions on transparency, his plans for mifepristone and the recently canceled Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting.

Arthur L. Caplan, PhD, a professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, previously told Healio that Makary’s answers offered some hope, as he seemed “well-qualified and insisted on being guided by the science and in listening to experienced FDA staff.”

Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, MD, a Republican from Louisiana, said during the March 13 vote to advance both nominations that rebuilding the country’s trust in health care requires leadership that is “committed to transparency and finding unbiased solutions to Americans’ most challenging health problems."

“Dr. Bhattacharya and Dr. Makary have demonstrated that they are ready to take on this responsibility,” he added. “In collaboration with other administration officials, [they] have the experience and the vision to achieve President Trump’s objective of making America healthy again.”

References:

Martin Makary confirmation vote. https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/12/28. Voted March 25, 2025. Accessed March 26, 2025.
Jayanta Bhattacharya confirmation vote. https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/12/2. Voted March 25, 2025. Accessed March 26, 2025.

Sources/Disclosures

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Source:

U.S. Senate. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_119_1.htm. Voted March 25, 2025. Accessed March 26, 2025.

Disclosures: Healio could not confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.