ISTANBUL

US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen pandemic lockdown critic Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s leading medical research agency.

"Dr. Bhattacharya will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to direct the Nation’s Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives," Trump said in a statement late Tuesday.

Bhattacharya, 56, a physician and economist trained at Stanford University, had opposed lockdowns and vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, policies widely credited by public health experts with saving millions of lives.

On X, Bhattacharya said he is both "honored" and "humbled" by Trump's nomination to serve as the next NIH director.

"We will reform American scientific institutions so that they are worthy of trust again and will deploy the fruits of excellent science to make America healthy again!" he added.

This nomination completes Trump's top public health team ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.

Early this month Trump named former rival Robert Kennedy Jr. to run the US Health Department of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy's questioning the efficacy and safety of vaccines and other fringe views have raised concerns in the medical community.