Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for criticizing Trump administration

Key facts

• Five scientists were ejected from the American Diabetes Association annual meeting.
• The scientists were distributing an editorial criticizing the Trump administration's policies on scientific research.
• The editorial was published in the journal Diabetes Care.
• The ejected scientists included the editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care and former ADA president.
• The incident occurred outside a session where an NIH official was scheduled to speak.

Five prominent scientists were expelled from the American Diabetes Association's annual meeting in New Orleans on Friday for distributing reprints of an editorial that criticized the Trump administration's approach to scientific research. The editorial was published in the journal Diabetes Care on April 29. The scientists, identified as Steven Kahn (editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care), Desmond Schatz (former ADA president), Aaron Kelly, Justin Ryder, and Irl Hirsch, were handing out the reprints outside a session where NIH director Jay Bhattacharya was scheduled to speak. Bhattacharya ultimately cancelled his appearance, and another NIH official spoke in his place. Aaron Kelly described the incident to MedPage Today, stating they were physically removed from the conference center and had their credentials revoked, calling it an act of censorship.