It’s a complicated story, so it’s worth recapping what’s occurred so far, followed by the most relevant details from the newly published articles.
The New Orleans Five controversy
The five ousted scientists included Steven Kahn, professor of medicine at the University of Washington, who is the editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care and a co-author of the editorial. It also included former ADA President Desmond Schatz of the University of Florida, Aaron Kelly, pediatrics professor at the University of Minnesota; Justin Ryder of Northwestern University; Irl Hirsch, also of the University of Washington; and Maureen Gannon of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The scientists were distributing the editorial outside the conference’s opening speech, which was originally scheduled 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 of handing out the editorial, police reportedly escorted the scientists out of the conference in New Orleans. The police reportedly shoved at least one scientist, took all of their conference badges, and threatened to arrest them if they tried to return. Louisiana State Police later told media that they acted at the request of the ADA. The ADA subsequently barred the five scientists from the rest of the conference.
Kahn had been slated to chair a symposium. John Buse of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill took his place, explaining the situation to attendees in remarks critical of the ADA’s actions. “The applause was deafening, not for the speech, but for Steven and standing up for science,” Buse wrote in his preprint article, which included a draft of those remarks.
Backlash to the ADA’s actions spread rapidly on Twitter/X and BlueSky and sharply increased the number of page views for the April editorial. Several ADA leaders have resigned, and a fiery letter signed by more than 40 ADA officials blasted the decision as “outrageous” and the justifications as “unpersuasive” and “fatuous nonsense,” stating that the community was “overwhelmingly repulsed by the way this unfortunate event has occurred and been excused and justified by the Association leadership.” The officials demanded “an immediate and unconditional public apology,” as well as a review of the incident. An open letter to the ADA, titled “Shame on You,” similarly called for an apology. It has gathered over 7,500 signatures at the time of this publication.
