In a move that surprised absolutely no one who has been paying attention to the current administration's relationship with science, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has issued a video apology for forcibly removing five leading diabetes scientists from its annual meeting last Friday. The scientists were ejected for the heinous crime of distributing copies of an editorial from the ADA's own journal, Diabetes Care, which sharply criticizes the Trump administration for its damage to biomedical research.
The ejected scientists included Steven Kahn, professor of medicine at the University of Washington and editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care, former ADA President Desmond Schatz of the University of Florida, Aaron Kelly of the University of Minnesota, Justin Ryder of Northwestern University, and Irl Hirsch of the University of Washington. They were handing out the editorial outside the conference's opening speech, which was originally to be given by Jay Bhattacharya, head of the National Institutes of Health under Trump. Bhattacharya canceled at the last minute, and senior NIH official Rick Woychik took his place.
Within minutes, police reportedly escorted the scientists out of the New Orleans conference, shoving at least one, confiscating their badges, and threatening arrest if they returned. Louisiana State Police later said they acted at the ADA's request. The ADA then barred the scientists from the rest of the conference.
In a video Wednesday, ADA CEO Charles Henderson personally apologized, saying, "What transpired is not reflective of who I am, the values I hold, or the way I was raised." This is a stark contrast to the ADA's earlier statements, which tried to justify the ousting by citing code of conduct violations, lack of prior approval for distributing materials, and even federal regulations for 501(c)(3) nonprofits - regulations that, it turns out, do not actually restrict personal political speech on public policy issues.
The incident sparked widespread condemnation on social media, driving a traffic spike to the editorial. Several ADA leaders resigned, and a letter signed by more than 40 ADA officials called the decision "outrageous" and the justifications "fatuous nonsense." An open letter titled "Shame on You" gathered over 6,500 signatures. Henderson also apologized to the community and promised a "thorough independent review" to ensure such incidents don't happen again.