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Newsmakers of the Week APRIL 04, 2025 | The Indian Eye 32

JAY BHATTACHARYA SHOHINI SINHA

Professor confirmed as Director Special agent appointed as

of NIH by Senate Assistant Director by FBI

he US Senate on Tuesday (local time) confirmed the appointment of
Indian-origin Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford School of Medi-
Tcine, as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). he Federal Bureau of Investigation has named Shohini Sinha as the as-
According to the official website of the US Senate, Bhattacharya won the sistant director of the Victim Services Division. Ms. Sinha most recently
vote 53-47 during the first session of the roll call vote in the 119th Congress. Tserved as the special agent in charge of the Salt Lake City Field Office.
Ms. Sinha joined the FBI as a special agent in 2001. She was first as-
According to an earlier nomination statement from US President signed to the Milwaukee Field Office, where she worked in counterterrorism
investigations. She also served temporary assignments at the Guantanamo
Donald Trump, Bhattacharya is a professor of health policy at Bay Naval Base, the FBI Legal Attaché Office in London, and the Baghdad
Stanford University, a research associate at the National Bureau Operations Center.
Ms. Sinha was promoted in 2009 to supervisory special agent and trans-
of Economic Research, and a senior fellow at the Stanford In- ferred to the Counterterrorism Division in Washington, D.C. She served as

stitute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford Freeman Spogli program manager of Canada-based extraterritorial investigations and facili-
tated liaison efforts with Washington-based Canadian liaison officers.
Institute, and the Hoover Institution.
In 2012, Ms. Sinha was promoted to assistant legal attaché in
He also directs Stanford’s Centre for Demography and Economics of
Health and Ageing, and his research emphasises the role of government pro- Ottawa, Canada, working counterterrorism matters in collabora-
grams, biomedical innovation, and economics. tion with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian
Jay is a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an alternative to
lockdowns proposed in October 2020. His peer-reviewed research has been Security Intelligence Service. In 2015, she was promoted to field
published in economics, statistics, legal, medical, public health, and health supervisor in the Detroit Field Office, where she led squads re-
policy journals.
The statement further added that Bhattacharya and newly appointed US sponsible for investigating international terrorism matters.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr will be working
together to restore the NIH to a “Gold Standard of Medical Research.” In early 2020, Ms. Sinha transferred to the Cyber Intrusion squad, which
Following his confirmation as the head of the NIH, US Republican Sena- worked both national security and criminal cyber intrusion matters. Later in
tor from Kentucky Mitch McConnell congratulated Bhattacharya, stating that 2020, she was promoted to assistant special agent in charge for national secu-
he would provide “sound leadership” to the institution. rity matters, and later criminal matters, in the Portland Field Office.
“Voted today to confirm Dr Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Insti- Ms. Sinha was selected to serve as the executive special assistant to the
tutes of Health. With an extensive background in medical research, I expect director in 2021. She has been serving as the special agent in charge of the Salt
Dr J Bhattacharya to provide sound leadership at the NIH,” McConnell said, Lake City Field Office since July of 2023.
taking to X. Prior to her employment with the FBI, Ms. Sinha worked as a therapist
Earlier in February, the US Senate voted to confirm Robert F Kennedy and later as an administrator for a private, not-for-profit clinic. She earned a
Jr, an anti-vaccine activist, as US Health and Human Services Secretary. He bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in mental health coun-
was confirmed as US Health and Human Services Secretary with a vote of seling from Purdue University in Indiana.
52-48. Continued on next page... >>

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