The head of the American Diabetes Association has issued a public apology to a Northwestern researcher and other diabetes experts who were escorted out of the group’s conference while distributing an editorial critical of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“I am deeply sorry for the hurt, frustration and the pain that resulted,” Charles Henderson, the association’s CEO, said in a video posted on YouTube. “Also [I] want to apologize to the broader diabetes community. Many members of our community were disturbed, disappointed and concerned by what occurred.”
Henderson went on to say that the Virginia-based association would undergo an independent review of what happened last week at the New Orleans conference and will share steps the organization will take in the future.
The apology was made public Wednesday, days after Justin Ryder, a pediatric obesity specialist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Lurie Children’s Hospital, returned to the Chicago area after he was escorted by private security and local police from the conference. Officers confiscated his conference badge and he was told he would be arrested if he tried to return.
The incident happened June 5 while he and other researchers were distributing an 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!” It had been published in a medical journal called, “Diabetes Care,” published by the American Diabetes Association.
Ryder, who was not involved in writing the editorial, previously told the Sun-Times it was important for the scientific community to distribute knowledge and not be censored.
“It’s important to me, for the word to get out there, that what’s going on in this country, to science, is not acceptable, and that it’s going to be damaging,” Ryder said. “People are going to lose their lives because we’re not going to be able to create new treatments or vaccines that can be really beneficial for human health.”
An online petition that had garnered more than 7,000 signatures called on the American Diabetes Association to apologize and make a commitment to a “policy of freedom of expression and scientific inquiry at all times.”
In his three-minute online apology, Henderson did not explicitly address concerns regarding the First Amendment, but he did say the organization was committed to science.
“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,” Henderson said in the video.