GREAT BARRINGTON -- A scientist who once bucked pandemic policy told a Senate panel on Wednesday that the National Institutes of Health is the "crown jewel" of biomedical research and medical breakthroughs.

But Dr. Jayanta "Jay" Bhattacharya also skewered the agency's reaction to scientists like him who disagreed with its response to the pandemic during his confirmation hearing for the role of NIH director.

"Top NIH officials oversaw a culture of cover up, obfuscation and a lack of tolerance for ideas that differed from theirs," Bhattacharya said in his opening statement. "Dissent is the very essence of science."

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Bhattacharya, President Donald Trump's pick to oversee the nation's top medical research agency, said he would "establish a culture of respect for free speech in science and scientific dissent at the NIH."

But it was his stance against COVID lockdowns that shot the Stanford University School of Medicine professor and researcher into center stage.

Bhattacharya outlined his position on COVID policy in an open letter known as the Great Barrington Declaration, which he drafted with two other scientists at the American Institute for Economic Research summit in October, 2020, in Great Barrington. It called for an end to the lockdowns.

The paper called for a public health strategy known as "Focused Protection" that would offer strong protection for the vulnerable, while those at low-risk of severe illness or death would take reasonable precautions and go on with their lives.

Critics said the declaration was heartless and would sacrifice certain populations to the virus. But now some of those key critics, like former NIH Director Francis Collins, have shifted their views, saying the lockdowns may have been too broad.

But the paper led to a political firestorm. Bhattacharya told lawmakers in 2023 that it was the government spreading misinformation about the virus and how it behaves.

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He said he was hit with a swift "propaganda attack" by government and media immediately after the declaration was launched online.

At one point, he feared for his safety, he told The Eagle in 2021. That was around the same time he questioned masking children, given that "no randomized studies demonstrate that masking children slows or stops the spread of COVID."

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At the beginning of Wednesday's confirmation hearing, some of Bhattacharya's indirect answers irritated Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt. Sanders asked whether Bhattacharya would support banning junk food advertising aimed at children, as other countries have done

After some pushback by Sanders, Bhattacharya agreed he would help.

Sanders also brought up drug pricing in the U.S., which is 10 times higher than in other countries. Bhattacharya agreed with Sanders' concerns, but appeared to disagree on how to solve it.

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Bhattacharya responded by saying that the NIH "should fund research on off-patent, off-label use of off-patent drugs, inexpensive drugs."

Bhattacharya also said he would prioritize research on rising childhood diabetes and obesity, as well as childhood infectious diseases. He also stated that heart disease and cancer would be priorities.

In response to a question about a fatal measles outbreak in Texas, he said he does not believe there is a link between the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine and autism.

He also added that he wants to restore trust in public science institutions and solve the crisis of scientific data reliability.