As online support for the experts spreads, ADA members have resigned from their positions
- 9 Jun 2026
- 9:55 AM ET
- ByLaura Martín Agudelo
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Updated, 10 June, 4:50 p.m.: On Wednesday, American Diabetes Association CEO Charles Henderson issued a public apology for ADA’s expulsion of researchers from a conference on 5 June for distributing an editorial critical of President Donald Trump’s administration. In a video posted on the organization’s YouTube channel, Henderson apologized to both those researchers and the broader diabetes community, saying, “Many members of our community were disturbed, disappointed, and concerned by what occurred.” Henderson added that ADA is commissioning an independent review of the incident and that “it will continue to advocate for robust NIH funding.” Watch Henderson’s full statement above.
On Friday, several diabetes researchers were brusquely escorted out of a major scientific conference organized by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), for distributing paper copies of an editorial criticizing the Trump administration. In the days since, video of the incident—first reported by MedPage Today—has rocketed around social media, stoking widespread backlash from scientists and causing the resignations of some ADA leaders who disagreed with the organization’s handling of the incident.
The altercation took place in New Orleans on the first day of ADA’s Scientific Sessions, the world’s largest diabetes conference, outside a speech being given by a senior official from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). In a gesture meant to provide a counternarrative to NIH leadership, a group of diabetes experts began handing out printed copies of an editorial published in April in ADA’s own journal that criticized the impacts of Trump administration budget cuts on biomedical research.
Within minutes, police officers on the premises escorted some of the researchers out of the building and threatened to arrest them if they went back in, says Aaron Kelly, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota who was among those distributing the editorial. Several media outlets quoted Louisiana State Police as saying that law enforcement intervened at the organizers’ request.
Lead editorial author Steven Kahn, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington who was also part of the group, tells Science they wanted to give the attendees an “alternative viewpoint” which “nobody was given an opportunity to present.” Kelly says they came up with the idea after several researchers emailed ADA leadership to criticize the decision to have NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya give the conference’s opening speech. (Bhattacharya canceled at the last minute; senior NIH official Rick Woychik filled in for him.)
After the incident, some researchers involved were barred from the rest of the conference. Shortly after the incident, Kahn—the editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care, the ADA journal that published the editorial—received an email from ADA saying he had violated the conference’s code of conduct. ADA also canceled his participation in several of its activities, including a poster presentation and a session he was supposed to chair.
In a statement emailed to its members on Saturday, ADA said the researchers were removed from the conference because they hadn’t received prior approval to distribute materials, “not because of the viewpoints expressed in those materials.” In response, Kelly tells Science that “none of us were made aware of this policy. I doubt that any ADA member is aware of this policy.
A public statement issued on Sunday added that ADA “maintain[s] a strictly nonpartisan environment” at its events to comply with federal tax regulations as a nonprofit. (The organization did not respond to specific questions from Science on Monday.)
As of Monday, at least two ADA leaders had resigned because of the fiasco, according to MedPage Today and sources interviewed by Science. Among them was Mark Atkinson, who chaired the ADA meeting’s planning committee and whose signature was on ADA’s first statement.
“I think [ADA’s] leadership made a mistake,” says Anthony Ferrante, a professor of medicine at Columbia University who resigned from his position as an adviser in one of ADA’s grant programs. Limiting “respectful discussions,” he says, is “antithetical” to ADA’s mission. Several other members he has spoken to have expressed concerns. “The responses have ranged from outrage to disbelief.”
ADA’s handling of the incident—which Kelly says he believes to be motivated by an attempt to “curry favor” with the Trump administration—has sparked outrage among the scientific community and widespread criticism on social media. An open letter to ADA titled “Shame on You,” started by David Nathan, director of the diabetes center at Massachusetts General Hospital, now has more than 5600 signatures on change.org.
In a letter addressed to ADA leadership and obtained by Science, more than 40 former ADA officials said they were “overwhelmingly repulsed by the way this unfortunate event has occurred and been excused and justified by the Association leadership” and requested an “immediate unconditional public apology.”
Online outrage has also drawn attention to the editorial, which as of Monday had been viewed more than 76,000 times on the journal’s website. Kahn says he has been inundated with emails of support from fellow diabetes researchers, academics in other disciplines, and people outside the scientific community, including parents of diabetic patients.
“They turned what would have been an opportunity for us to get a couple hundred people to read what we were handing out,” he says, “into what has become an international story.”
Update, 10 June, 11:30 a.m.: This story has been updated to include comment from Anthony Ferrante and to discuss the letter to ADA leadership signed by more than 40 former ADA officials.
