ADA CEO – After five diabetes scientists were forcibly removed from the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting last Friday for distributing an ADA-published editorial criticizing the Trump administration’s impact on biomedical research, the ADA’s CEO posted a We
In New Orleans, the moment the five scientists began handing out copies of an April editorial, the meeting changed course—fast. Within minutes, police reportedly escorted the scientists out of the conference, took their badges, and threatened to arrest them if they tried to return.
On Wednesday. the American Diabetes Association’s CEO. Charles Henderson. posted a video apology to the very researchers who were removed last Friday. acknowledging that what happened was not consistent with the values he says he holds. His apology came after days of escalating backlash and after Henderson’s video sharply contradicted the ADA’s earlier attempt to justify the ejection.
The scientists targeted for removal were among the highest-profile figures in diabetes research. The group included Steven Kahn—professor of medicine at the University of Washington. editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care. and a co-author of the editorial being distributed. It also included Desmond Schatz, a former ADA president and professor at the University of Florida.
The editorial itself had been published in the ADA’s own journal, Diabetes Care, and it criticized the Trump administration for the damage and destruction it’s wreaking on biomedical research. The five scientists were handing out copies of that editorial outside the conference’s opening speech.
The opening moment had already been thrown off schedule. Jay Bhattacharya, described as head of the National Institutes of Health under Trump, was originally scheduled to give the opening speech, but he canceled at the last minute. Senior NIH official Rick Woychik took his place.
When the scientists started distributing the editorial. police reportedly shoved at least one scientist and then took all of their conference badges. Louisiana State Police later told media that they acted at the request of the ADA. The ADA then barred the five scientists from the rest of the conference.
Henderson’s Wednesday video named the scientists again and placed himself directly in front of the controversy. The apology was directed at the five researchers involved: Aaron Kelly. a pediatrics professor at the University of Minnesota; Justin Ryder of Northwestern University; Irl Hirsch of the University of Washington; as well as Kahn and Schatz.
“What transpired is not reflective of who I am, the values I hold, or the way I was raised,” Henderson said. “I will work hard to bring our community back together to build on the progress we have collectively made for those affected by diabetes.”
The shift from the ADA’s earlier messaging to Henderson’s apology is striking. Over the past several days. the association released a series of statements aimed at defending the decision to remove the scientists. At first. an ADA media team told MedPage Today that “these attendees were escorted out by our onsite event security because they demonstrated behavior not consistent with this code of conduct” for the conference.
A few days of explanations and denials gave way to the apology Wednesday—after police reportedly removed badges, threatened arrest, and physically escorted the scientists out, and after the scientists were carrying an ADA-published editorial signed by people inside the diabetes research leadership.
Charles Henderson’s apology leaves one immediate question hanging over the meeting’s aftermath: whether the association’s justification for the ejection aligned with the reality of what the scientists were doing when the confrontation began—distributing a critique of the Trump administration’s effects on biomedical research. printed in the ADA’s own journal. and handed out as the conference’s opening speech got underway.
American Diabetes Association ADA diabetes research Diabetes Care Steven Kahn Desmond Schatz Charles Henderson New Orleans conference Jay Bhattacharya Rick Woychik biomedical research code of conduct police escorted scientists