ADA: Ejected Members Violated Meeting Conduct Code

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) says five members were removed from its annual scientific meeting in June for disruptive conduct that violated its attendee code. The association stated the content of an editorial they were distributing, which criticized the Trump administration, was unrelated to their ejection.

According to a press release from the ADA, an independent review by its audit and governance committee found no evidence that the association called the New Orleans Police Department. The release stated that contracted event security officers "took appropriate actions in response to the disruptions."

Researchers Dispute Findings

Steven Kahn, MBChB, the lead author of the editorial who was removed, challenged the review's independence. He noted that two committee members sit on the ADA's board of directors. Kahn also said it remains "unclear what aspects of the code of conduct we in fact violated."

Kahn and the four other ejected attendees, Maureen Gannon, PhD, Aaron Kelly, PhD, Justin Ryder, PhD, and Desmond Schatz, MD, have not been allowed to see the full report despite requesting it. "In the end, very few answers have been provided and lots of questions remain," Kahn told MedPage Today.

Criticism from the Community

David Nathan, MD, a diabetes expert at Massachusetts General Hospital, said he told the review committee the ADA "behaved shamefully." He believes his comments were ignored. "I was clearly not effective, as the press release suggests that the 'independent review' is only going to be a whitewash of the events that began on June 5," Nathan said. "I fear for the survival of this once admirable institution."

The committee's review involved interviews with 28 people and examination of videos, emails, and news articles. Following the incident, two ADA leaders, President-Elect Jennifer Green, MD, and Scientific Sessions Planning Committee Chair Mark Atkinson, PhD, resigned from the organization.

Aftermath and Institutional Response

On June 10, ADA CEO Charles Henderson issued a video apology to the five removed attendees and the broader research community. However, in July, the ADA declined to publish a packet of editorials about the meeting events in its journal, Diabetes Care. The journal's deputy editors instead published the materials on the Zenodo science repository.

In a recent op-ed, Henderson emphasized the ADA's advocacy work, writing, "The ADA has also made numerous public statements calling out the current and former administrations for cutting diabetes prevention programs, reducing research support, and decreasing healthcare coverage." He added that most proposed federal cuts to diabetes research have not materialized due to community advocacy.

The association says it will implement new initiatives to improve communications and strengthen policies for large meetings.