The reelection of Donald Trump was, in many ways, a correction. A correction for how the media and government have conducted themselves over the course of the last decades. President Trump understands that mandate and has appointed members of his Cabinet and administration who are agents of change. 

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans began to second-guess the medical establishment like never before. Suddenly topics such as vaccines, which were once unquestionable, became suspect. Despite the fact that questioning the safety and wisdom of our vaccine schedule has been his hobbyhorse for over a decade, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. found his moment. His movement, MAHA (“make America healthy again”), gained wide support, especially among suburban mothers. When he dropped out of the presidential race and stood behind Trump, those suburban mothers came with him. That support is in no small way why Trump was reelected and, as a result, RFK Jr. was named secretary of Health and Human Services.

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But Kennedy isn’t the only member of the Trump administration appointed to shake up the field of medicine in government. Before the inauguration, Trump tapped Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University health researcher and one of the strongest critics of the COVID-19 lockdowns, to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health.

“Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to the Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease,” Trump wrote in a statement making the announcement. “Together, they will work hard to Make American Healthy Again!”

Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary is Trump’s choice for Food and Drug Administration commissioner. Makary just wrote a new book, Blind Spots, about the dangers of the medical field falling into groupthink instead of following the data and, in some cases, mere common sense. 

It is in the shadow of this potential revolution in medicine and health sciences that a new book, Doctored, was released by healthcare journalist Charles Piller. The book chronicles the journalist’s uncovering of decadeslong, multifront fraud in the field of Alzheimer’s research and treatment. It is an indictment of the entire quest, spanning across whole fields of research, drug development, grant making, and more. The fraud isn’t part of a nefarious master plan to keep patients and their families in the dark, but instead a tragic end result of decades of groupthink and greed.

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Writing in the New York Times about his new book, Piller explained the genesis of the problem.

“For decades, Alzheimer’s research has been shaped by the dominance of a single theory, the amyloid hypothesis,” he wrote. “It holds that amyloid proteins prompt a cascade of biochemical changes in the brain that cause dementia. The supremacy of that hypothesis has exerted enormous pressure toward scientific conformity.”

Piller went on to explain how the acceptance of the hypothesis was the only path forward for those looking to do research or develop drugs in the field.

“The entrenchment of the amyloid hypothesis has fostered a kind of groupthink where grants, corporate riches, career advancement and professional reputations often depend on a central idea largely accepted by institutional authorities on faith,” Piller continued. “It’s unsurprising, then, that most of the fraudulent or questionable papers uncovered during my reporting have involved aspects of the amyloid hypothesis. It’s easier to publish dubious science that aligns with conventional wisdom.” 

The result of this fraud?

“Widespread misconduct wastes time, steals precious resources and skews thinking by honest scientists,” Piller explained. “Meanwhile, the staggering scale of Alzheimer’s grows year by year.”

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Writing in his book, Piller decries “reprehensible attacks” due to the loss of trust in public health authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he at least realizes that “arrogance and defensiveness have drained credibility from the maxim, ‘Trust us, we are the experts.’” 

As Bhattacharya and Makary have their confirmation hearings, it’s clear that their mandate doesn’t just extend to righting the wrongs that took place over the pandemic. There is an institutional rot within the field of medicine. Makary wrote an entire book about it; there are few others in America as well-informed and capable of making change. The triumvirate of Bhattacharya, Makary, and Kennedy are tasked with making America healthy again. RFK Jr. has the largest profile, but it might just be that, given their future perches, Bhattacharya and Makary have the best chance at effecting real change for America’s future health.

Bethany Mandel (@bethanyshondark) is a homeschooling mother of six and a writer. She is the bestselling co-author of Stolen Youth.