From ejection to apology: The ADA controversy’s timeline of events

It's been a turbulent stretch for the American Diabetes Association. After security removed several researchers from its 2026 annual meeting for distributing an editorial critical of the Trump administration's cuts to NIH funding, the backlash came fast.

Here's how the situation has unfolded, day by day.

June 5

A group of five clinicians and researchers were escorted out of the ADA meeting by police for distributing a recent editorial criticizing the Trump administration’s cuts to medical research. They were handing out copies outside of a keynote talk originally scheduled to be given by Jay Bhattacharya, head of the National Institutes of Health under Trump. When Bhattacharya cancelled, NIH official Rick Woychik took his place.

The editorial, titled “Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!” was published in Diabetes Care, the flagship journal of the ADA.

“From our perspective as investigators who have received federal research funding, these changes have and will continue to have detrimental effects on the NIH research infrastructure, with significant adverse trickle-down implications for universities and investigators,” the editorial reads. “These radical modifications have included a marked reduction in the NIH workforce, changes in medical advisory councils, a reduction in published notices of funding opportunities, and an ill-advised multiyear funding policy.”

Steven Kahn, MBChB, the lead author of the editorial and the editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care, was among the experts kicked out.

The others kicked out were the following:

Aaron Kelly, Ph.D., a pediatrics professor and the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota

Desmond Schatz, M.D., pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Florida and past ADA president

Maureen Gannon, Ph.D., professor in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Justin Ryder, Ph.D., translational pediatric obesity researcher, Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern Medicine

When they tried to reenter the conference, Kahn reported they were threatened with arrest.

June 6

The ADA released a statement later that day stating the authors were kicked out because they violated IRS regulations that require 501(c)(3) organizations such as the ADA to maintain a bipartisan environment at their events.

David Nathan, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, creates a change.org petition demanding that the ADA apologize for its actions. At press time, the petition has 7,247 signatures.

June 7

To show their support of Kahn and his colleagues, dozens of ADA attendees walk out during the presidential plenary session, holding a sign that read, "We stand with science."

June 8

At least two ADA leaders resign, including President-Elect Jennifer Green, M.D., and Scientific Sessions Planning Committee Chair Mark Atkinson, Ph.D.

June 10

The ADA issues a three-minute video apology, given by Henderson.

“First and foremost, I want to personally apologize to Dr. Steven Kahn, Dr. Desmond Schatz, Dr. Aaron Kelly, Dr. Maureen Gannon, and Dr. Justin Ryder, who were escorted out and denied access to scientific sessions, regardless of the circumstances that led to those events,” Henderson said in the video. “I recognize the impact that experience had on each of you. I am deeply sorry for the hurt, frustration, and the pain that resulted.”

Henderson's message also included a promise to maintain NIH funding.

“The ADA will continue to advocate for robust NIH funding, support the pursuit of scientific discovery, and advocate for the broader research community whose work advances knowledge, drives innovation, and ultimately improves the lives of people living with diabetes, obesity, and related conditions.”

Reactions to the apology were mixed.

John Buse, a former president of the ADA, said in a statement that it was a “great first step” to reconcile what he initially thought was “a joke.”

Meanwhile, Jay Skyler, an endocrinologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is past forgiveness. “I am underwhelmed. Too little and way too late,” he said.