Hi, everyone and welcome back to the Untold Story podcast. I'm Martha McCallum. After President

Elect Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

many Americans are looking into how he plans to make America healthy again. And boy, is America

unhealthy when you look at the statistics across the board. I had an opportunity to speak with Dr. J.

Batacharya, a professor of health policy at Stanford University, who may join President Elect Trump's cabinet.

And I discussed with him the status of health in America, how new leadership could impact the food we eat, medical care, whether or not we do what he recommends, which is to move into preventative

health, rather than trying to fix problems that exist and chronic issues, chronic health issues,

what our kids are eating, cancer threats in our food and our environment. So stay tuned to

listen to my conversation with Dr. Jay.

Dr. Jay, thank you very much. It's great to have you with us. You wrote so many powerful

editorials during COVID and gave hope, I think, to a lot of people who felt like the guidance

was misguided. You know, my first question for you is, I watched this current NIH director.

And honestly, I couldn't understand what she was talking about in terms of what their role is

and what they're supposed to be doing.

Did you understand what she was trying to convey there?

I think what she's trying to say is that the NIH has a lot of expertise and that if we get rid of, you know, a lot of that expertise that somehow the health of the American public will be harmed.

I mean, I'm not saying that that's wrong necessarily, but I think that the question is like, what is that expertise produced?

Has it really benefited the American people?

Like I think, for instance, the NIH invested in very dangerous... is like, what is that expertise produced? Has it really benefited the American people? Like,

I think, for instance, the NIH invested in very dangerous gain of function research that might have caused the pandemic, Martha, and they have not come clean. Reporters that have tried to look

into it have been blackballed from seeing documents that are even unclassified, that kind of transparency leads to distrust.

And it's partly, I think, why President Trump was elected. The next NIH director, whoever it is,

...