The American Academy of Sciences & Letters has awarded SHP’s Jay Bhattacharya its highest honor for intellectual freedom for his “extraordinary courage” in voicing his views and challenging some government policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, a professor of health policy and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, was awarded the 2024 Robert J. Zimmer Medal for Intellectual Freedom at a ceremony earlier this week.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Bhattacharya, like so many others, pivoted his work to make his formidable expertise available to the public in its time of dire need,” reads a statement from the academy on its website. “And, as happens so often in the practice of science, his findings did not immediately and completely confirm what many people were expecting him to find. In the fear and uncertainty of that undeniably challenging global emergency, some public officials found themselves asking: Can we afford to permit scientists to publicize unexpected findings and express ideas and opinions that deviate from those policies initially advocated and widely instituted? Or does our responsibility to public safety somehow require us to use administrative power to project and enforce the appearance of consensus in the findings of science, and the opinions of scientists?”

The academy said Bhattacharya’s response to those who challenged his views during the pandemic demonstrated “the courage and firm commitment to intellectual freedom” that represents those who earn the Zimmer medal.

“He not only resolutely refused despite enormous pressure to compromise his scientific findings, but placed at risk his own personal and professional self-interest, repeatedly, without hesitation, to take a stand for the public’s right to unrestricted scientific discussion and debate,” the academy said.

Bhattacharya and the Department of Health Policy recently convened a conference devoted to giving all sides of the pandemic policy debate a chance to voice their views.

“During pandemics, the public depends on experts to share their expertise openly without fear or favor and to speak their minds openly about their scientific and policy evaluations,” Bhattacharya said when opening the Oct. 4 conference.

The annual AASL award is named for the late Robert J. Zimmer, a mathematician who served as president of University of Chicago and was a proponent of intellectual freedom in academia. The honor went to the writer Salman Rushdie last year.