Jay Bhattacharya on DEI-directed NIH grantmaking: warns against

Bhattacharya warns against DEI-directed NIH grantmaking. In a January 2026 interview with journalist Paul Thacker, he said DEI-related grants would not be renewed in 2026 — “We are not interested in funding DEI” — arguing that a decade-plus of DEI-focused NIH work “did not work” and “did not improve the health of minority populations” (reported by AfroTech). His stated reasoning is that the approach failed on its own terms: years of targeted spending did not move health outcomes for minority populations, so continuing it would waste resources better aimed at the major health challenges he has prioritized, such as chronic disease. Critics, including the signatories of the June 2025 “Bethesda Declaration,” have characterized the administration’s grant decisions as politicizing research — that dispute is documented on his initiatives page.

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