Five scientists ousted from ADA conference for reprints
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- Five scientists were physically removed from the American Diabetes Association's annual meeting in New Orleans on Friday for distributing reprints of an editorial published in the ADA's own journal, Diabetes Care.
- The editorial, co-authored by Steven Kahn (editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care) and published April 29, sharply criticized the Trump administration's ongoing attacks on scientific research; the ADA had added a disclaimer distancing itself from the article.
- The ejected group — Kahn, former ADA President Desmond Schatz, Aaron Kelly, Justin Ryder, and Irl Hirsch — were distributing reprints outside a room where NIH director Jay Bhattacharya was scheduled to speak; Bhattacharya canceled and another NIH official spoke instead.
- Aaron Kelly told MedPage Today security "physically grabbed us, forced us out of the conference center," and Kahn has written seeking re-admittance since he is slated to speak and chair a session at the meeting.
- The ADA defended the removals as a code-of-conduct violation, citing rules against "protesting" and "disorderly or disruptive conduct," even though video shows the scientists were not disruptive in their conduct.
- Online backlash on Twitter/X and BlueSky sharply increased page views for Kahn et al.'s original April editorial, amplifying the very piece the ejection sought to suppress.
Why it matters: The ADA ejected the editor-in-chief of its own journal and four colleagues for distributing that journal's published editorial — and the suppression backfired, sharply boosting the editorial's page views. The episode crystallizes the collision between scientific advocacy and institutional neutrality, centered on a canceled NIH director talk.
