ADA Faces Revolt Over Ejecting Scientists at Meeting
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- American Diabetes Association ejected five physicians and scientists from its annual meeting after they distributed reprints of an opinion piece in Diabetes Care criticizing the Trump administration’s science funding cuts
- American Diabetes Association cited a policy requiring a 'strictly nonpartisan environment' at events as justification for removing the attendees, though the op-ed targeted federal research funding reductions
- More than 200 ADA members are demanding the resignation of top officials, an investigation into the ejection, a formal apology, and restoration of editorial independence at Diabetes Care
- American Diabetes Association apologized for the incident but has not provided a detailed explanation, saying it awaits a report from its audit and governance committee
- Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky contrasted the ADA’s current actions with its 2015 defense of scientific integrity when it fought a defamation suit by Brazilian researcher Mario Saad over concerns raised on his papers
- Diabetes Care ultimately retracted four papers by Mario Saad after the U.S. District Court dismissed his defamation case against the journal, an act once praised as courageous by the authors
Why it matters: The ADA’s response risks alienating its scientific membership and undermining its credibility, especially given its past defense of editorial independence. The contrast between its 2015 legal stand and its current suppression of internal criticism suggests a shift in priorities that may compromise scientific discourse for political expediency.
