Police Remove Diabetes Experts from ADA Meeting in New Orleans

During the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) annual meeting in New Orleans on June 5, 2026, police escorted several members out of the convention center for distributing an editorial that criticized changes made by the Trump administration to U.S. biomedical research. Among those removed was Steven Kahn, MBChB, the lead author of the editorial published in the ADA's journal, Diabetes Care. Kahn, along with other experts, was handing out copies of the editorial outside a keynote speech when they were approached by security and police. The ADA stated that the attendees violated the code of conduct rules agreed upon during registration. Video footage captured the incident, showing Kahn and his colleagues being confronted by law enforcement. Kahn has since requested permission from the ADA to re-enter the meeting to fulfill his speaking obligations. The editorial highlights concerns over a proposed $5 billion reduction to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget and its potential impact on diabetes research funding.