Richard Woychik has a new role at the National Institutes of Health after a close friend of Vice President JD Vance replaced him as the head of the agency’s environmental health institute.
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya announced Tuesday that he appointed Woychik to serve as senior adviser for the agency’s Make America Healthy Again strategy, the movement spearheaded by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to tackle the nation’s chronic disease epidemic.
“In this pivotal role, he will help advance a bold, forward-looking agenda that unites research and innovation across NIH’s Institutes and Centers,” Bhattacharya said in a news release. “His leadership will support efforts to identify the root causes of chronic disease, strengthen the nation’s health resilience, and promote equitable, data-driven prevention strategies.”
Why it matters: Woychik’s move follows a period of upheaval for NIH leadership.
