Diabetes journal editors accuse association of suppressing ouster critiques
Editors say the American Diabetes Association declined to publish commentaries about scientists removed from its New Orleans meeting.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
4 min read
Deputy editors of the American Diabetes Association journal Diabetes Care have posted an editorial and seven opinion articles online after saying the association declined to publish them. The materials add new allegations to a dispute over the removal of diabetes researchers from the ADA’s annual meeting in New Orleans.
The controversy began June 5, when researchers distributed copies of an April Diabetes Care editorial criticizing Trump administration actions affecting scientific research. The scientists were escorted from the meeting by police, and Louisiana State Police later told media outlets they acted at the ADA’s request.
The newly posted materials, made available on Zenodo by Diabetes Care deputy editors Elizabeth Selvin and Cheryl A.M. Anderson, say the ADA had received the articles before publication and had been invited to publish a response at the same time. “The ADA’s response was to refuse to publish these articles,” the deputy editors wrote.
Removal prompted public backlash
The scientists removed from the conference included Steven Kahn, a University of Washington professor and editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care, along with other prominent diabetes researchers and former ADA President Desmond Schatz. They had been handing out the journal editorial outside a session originally scheduled to feature Jay Bhattacharya, the Trump administration’s National Institutes of Health director, before senior NIH official Rick Woychik appeared instead.
According to accounts cited in the posted articles, police took the scientists’ badges and warned them not to return. The ADA later barred them from the rest of the conference.
The ADA first said the researchers had violated meeting rules and had not received approval to distribute materials, according to reporting from MedPage Today and Science. The association later said it was maintaining a nonpartisan environment as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. ADA CEO Charles Henderson subsequently apologized in a video statement and said the association would commission an independent review of the events and its decision-making process.
The posted articles say the researchers have not since received a meeting with ADA leadership, an official apology beyond Henderson’s video or a formal exoneration. They call for the promised investigation, a process to address professional member concerns and stronger ADA support for journal editors and research funding advocacy.
Editors point to earlier tensions
Selvin and Anderson wrote that the conflict followed tensions over a 2025 session they organized titled “How Do We Fix a Broken Health Care System?” They said ADA leaders objected before the session that it was “unbalanced” and asked for a speaker from the other political party and other opposing views.
The deputy editors said the session was not partisan. They wrote that Rep. Kim Schrier, a Washington Democrat, pediatrician and person with Type 1 diabetes, discussed her experience with diabetes, bipartisan work on drug costs, the Congressional Diabetes Caucus and possible harm to diabetes research from NIH funding cuts.
Selvin and Anderson also said ADA leadership canceled annual in-person meetings with the Diabetes Care editorial board and associate editors after the June 5 removals. They wrote that the association has since sent advocacy messages opposing federal policies after hiring a public relations crisis firm.
Buse alleges a planned action
John Buse of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine wrote in one of the posted articles that he now believes the removals were planned in advance. Buse said the ADA’s conduct represented an “existential threat” to the association.
The researchers wrote that ADA leadership knew copies of the editorial would be distributed. Schatz had texted ADA Chief Scientific and Medical Officer Rita Kalyani before the meeting, advising her to call Kahn about where materials could be handed out and saying the effort should not be disruptive, according to the posted account.
In Buse’s account, a police officer asked conference security during the removals whether the action was sufficient, and a security official said one more badge was needed. Buse wrote that ADA leaders could have contacted Kahn to reach an accommodation but instead used armed law enforcement.
Another posted article by Mark Atkinson, former chair of the Scientific Sessions Meeting Planning Committee, explained his resignation after the incident. Atkinson wrote that a letter bearing his name and the CEO’s was released without giving him a chance to approve the final text, and that he no longer had confidence in the process.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.