With the U.S. presidential election decided, one name is suddenly circulating in healthcare: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised Kennedy a large role in his new administration, signaling he could be handed influence guiding some of the nation’s health policies. And Kennedy, who does not have medical or public health degrees, has made it clear he has big ideas for change.

This week, Kennedy outlined three goals directed to him from Trump: “clean up corruption,” return health agencies to evidence-based science and “make america healthy again.” He didn’t present evidence of corruption, nor acknowledge the evidence-based work health agencies currently conduct.

Kennedy noted he and Trump “have not decided yet” on what his role might be, but didn’t rule out being put forward for a Senate-confirmed position at a federal health agency. Another possibility is a sort of White House “health czar” position.

While his role in the Trump administration is uncertain, Kennedy’s statements during own run for president outlined his thoughts on public health. Here’s what we know about Kennedy’s stance on various health and pharma issues.

Drug prices

Like political leaders on both sides of the aisle, Kennedy has supported measures to lower drug costs.

“Legislators should cap drug prices so that companies can’t charge Americans substantially more than Europeans pay,” Kennedy wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in September.

Kennedy pointed to Ozempic, Novo Nordisk’s popular diabetes drug, as an example, noting how in Germany the drug costs less than one-tenth of its cost in the U.S., where the list price is around $1,000 per month. It’s a similar criticism as the case made by Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., against Novo and Eli Lilly for charging too high a price for their diabetes and weight loss medicines.

During his first term, Trump issued an executive order that would have required Medicare to pay no more than the lowest prices in other OECD countries for drugs. CMS proposed what became known as “the most favored nation” model in November 2020, after Trump lost the election, but it was rescinded before the end of the year.

While Trump has since backed away from the policy, Kennedy’s past support suggests how the idea may still circulate in a second Trump administration.

Vaccines

Kennedy is perhaps most well known for his skepticism of vaccines and for advancing conspiracy theories against them.

In particular, Kennedy wants to use federal health data to prove whether vaccines are unsafe, Trump transition team officials said in October. However, Kennedy said this week he “won’t take away anyone’s vaccines” and instead promoted “choice.”

Still, Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric has raised concern among some experts.

“If [Kennedy] has a significant influence on the next administration, that could further erode people’s willingness to get up to date with recommended vaccines,” Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general in Trump’s first administration, recently said at the American Public Health Association annual conference.

NIH funding

Kennedy also wants to change funding for the National Institutes of Health and has touted a plan to “devote half of research budgets … toward preventive, alternative and holistic approaches to health,” he wrote in September.

Notably, Kennedy said researchers currently don’t have funding to understand underlying issues of disease, such as diet. He has also stated in other interviews that the entire nutrition department of the FDA, which oversees food quality and safety, “[has] to go” because “they’re not protecting our kids.”

Drug advertising

Kennedy’s distrust of the pharma industry is also evident in his opposition to direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising, which he has called for banning.

In his op-ed in the Journal, Kennedy suggested news channels may be influenced by drug ad revenue in their health news coverage. Pharma companies spent nearly $3 billion last year on advertising for the 10 most promoted drugs.

Obesity and chronic disease

Kennedy wants to address chronic disease, saying Trump has directed him to make tangible health improvements among children within two years.

Trump has questioned whether “the overprescription of certain medications” is to blame obesity in the U.S. And Kennedy has hypothesized that the drug and healthcare industries profit from chronically sick children.

Some experts have criticized Kennedy for this stance, arguing that effective medicines to treat chronic diseases are necessary and beneficial.

“Kennedy makes it sound as if treating chronic disease is a bad thing,” Tom Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote in an op-ed last month. “Nobody wants to have to take medicines to stay healthy, but it’s dangerous to insinuate that medications are the problem.”

Kennedy’s campaign office did not respond to a request for comment.