NIH Director Dr. Bhattacharya Calls Pediatric Gender Transition a Failure of Scientific Integrity

In this address, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health, reflects on what he describes as a troubling chapter in modern medical history—the misuse of scientific authority to promote gender-transition interventions for children without solid evidence. He argues that during recent years, scientific institutions and journals were overtaken by ideological groupthink, suppressing dissent and elevating weak or nonexistent evidence into dogma.

At the center of his remarks is the claim that children who are denied medical transition are more likely to commit suicide. Dr. Bhattacharya explains that this assertion was treated as settled science despite the absence of credible supporting evidence. Major reviews—including the HHS report, the UK’s Cass Review, and findings from Scandinavian countries—have since concluded that the evidence for such claims is extremely weak or nonexistent.

He criticizes the scientific culture that discouraged researchers from questioning these extraordinary claims, noting that fear of professional or ideological backlash prevented honest debate. As an example, he recounts an NIH-funded study that found no increased suicide risk for children who did not transition, but whose researcher refused to release the results due to ideological pressure. Dr. Bhattacharya calls this a serious violation of scientific integrity.

Dr. Bhattacharya announces two major policy actions. First, the NIH has ended support for research promoting pediatric gender transition, calling much of it “junk science,” with remaining funding to be fully eliminated by year’s end. Second, the NIH will fund rigorous, gold-standard research to help children and families affected by transition and detransition, acknowledging the real harm and distress experienced by many.

He closes by thanking the administration and lawmakers for their leadership, expressing hope that science will return to its core principles—questioning assumptions, following evidence, and prioritizing the protection of children—so that this period is remembered as a cautionary lesson never to be repeated.