American Diabetes Association faces calls for resignations

The expulsion of five diabetes experts from the American Diabetes Association meeting last month continues to reverberate, with more than 200 members now calling for two ADA leaders to resign. In response, the ADA delivered its own message Tuesday, expressing appreciation for members’ patience while a report is prepared. 

The resignation demand, sent last week in an open letter to the ADA board of directors, calls for the removal of CEO Charles Henderson and chief scientific and medical officer Rita Kalyani. It also urges “an independent investigation into the events of the 2026 Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, a full apology to the five colleagues removed from the meeting, and the restoration of editorial independence at Diabetes Care,” an ADA scientific journal.

“It has now been more than 45 days since the incident at the 2026 Scientific Sessions, and the ADA Board of Directors has still taken no meaningful action to hold leadership accountable, issue a genuine apology, or restore trust with the membership,” the open letter said. “The ADA was founded by physicians and scientists who understood that this organization’s strength flows from the community it serves — not from the administrators who happen to run it. That community is now telling its Board, in the clearest terms available, that the current path is unsustainable. We ask that they change the organization now.”