Despite Defunding Threats, Harvard President Praises Former Student Tapped by Trump to Lead NIH

Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 praised President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health as a “serious and dedicated researcher who has always been well-intentioned” during an interview with The Crimson on Tuesday.

Jayanta “Jay” Bhattacharya — Trump’s nominee to lead the NIH — was Garber’s former student and research partner at Stanford University, where Garber was a faculty member for 25 years before moving to Harvard to serve as provost.

The praise for Bhattacharya comes even as he reportedly threatened to tie a university’s likelihood of receiving federal research grants to academic freedom on its campus, a policy that could jeopardize the hundreds of millions in federal funding that Harvard receives each year.

“I know Jay as a serious and dedicated researcher who has always been well-intentioned and is always worth listening to,” Garber said in the interview. “I expect him to aim to serve with distinction.”

However, the former student could become one of Garber’s biggest adversaries as he seeks to defend Harvard amid increasing threats from the incoming Trump administration.

Bhattacharya, who once called Garber a “huge influence” on his career, first co-authored a paper with him in 1996 as a student in medical school. Bhattacharya wrote at least ten academic papers and chapters with Garber while following in his footsteps into the fields of economics, health policy, and medicine.

The Stanford health economist has also attracted controversy for co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for a rollback of Covid-19 lockdowns at the height of the pandemic.

If confirmed, Bhattacharya may position the NIH at the center of a growing push by Republicans to punish Harvard and other universities for their response to antisemitism and campus protest by reducing their federal funding. In the last fiscal year, Harvard received $686 million in federal funding.

Bhattacharya has considered using rankings published by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to determine the level of academic freedom on university campuses, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In its 2024 report, FIRE ranked Harvard dead last for the second year in a row, assigning the University the lowest possible score of 0.00 out of 100.

Garber declined to comment on unconfirmed reports about how Bhattacharya — who once conducted NIH-funded research under Garber at Stanford — may decide to allocate federal grants as NIH director.

“I will await further development of how he intends to address these issues before commenting,” Garber said.

Bhattacharya did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Thursday.

However, Garber said that he will continue to support efforts to address academic freedom at Harvard.

“I believe the vast majority of members of our community believe strongly in freedom of expression,” Garber said. “Fundamentally, we believe that we should continue to work on improving the environment for speech, for expression, for openness throughout the University.”

When asked whether he would meet with members of the incoming Trump administration, Garber said on Tuesday that he would “reach out broadly to legislators and federal officials” to make the case for higher education.

“I think it is very important to maintain an understanding of what is actually occurring on campuses and to reaffirm our commitment to the well-being of our nation and the world,” Garber said.

Garber’s remarks reflect the exceedingly cautious approach Harvard has taken to the incoming Trump administration, walking a fine line between praising the public value of universities and stressing the need for federal support, while avoiding any direct comments on the defunding threats.

“We could not carry out our mission the way we do now without substantial federal research support, nor could we provide the benefits to the nation that we do now without that support,” Garber said.

The University’s delicate approach to the incoming administration was also reflected in an advisory the Harvard International Office issued to students concerned about changes to immigration policy earlier this week.

The office recommended international students return to campus “prior to the January Martin Luther King Holiday” — an oblique reference to Trump’s inauguration, which will occur on the same day.

During Trump’s first term, immigration issues took center stage for Harvard’s top administration. Two Harvard affiliates were barred from traveling to campus after Trump suspended immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. At the time, top University officials issued sharp criticism of the executive order.

Harvard also sued the Trump administration in 2020 over federal guidelines prohibiting international students from living in the country if their universities were only offering online classes. Trump agreed to rescind the policy a week later.

On Tuesday, Garber said the University would continue to support international students if Trump enacts new immigration policies.

“I don’t want to speculate about what new regulations or laws might be put in place in the coming year, but I do want to say that we intend to continue to provide support for our students, as we have always done with regard to immigration issues and to ensure that they have a successful experience on campus,” Garber said.

“We have many kinds of supports for international students, and we intend to continue to provide them,” he added.

For now, Garber said he will continue to advocate for higher education even as he waits to see whether the new administration will take up the call from House Republicans to strip Harvard of its federal funding.

“As the new Congress takes office, the new administration takes office, we will be monitoring the kinds of regulatory and legislative initiatives that they announce,” Garber said.

“We will seek to ensure that universities and research universities effectively make the case for their value to the country,” he added.

—Staff writer Emma H. Haidar can be reached at emma.haidar@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @HaidarEmma.

—Staff writer Cam E. Kettles can be reached at cam.kettles@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cam_kettles.