Likewise, Jan Carney, president of the American College of Physicians, said the group was “alarmed” while blasting the firing of the two doctors from the task force.
“Both physicians are highly qualified experts, and we take issue with the lack of transparency in any review that Secretary Kennedy has conducted of members of the task force,” Carney said. “The firings come as the task force has not met over the course of the past year and has been prevented from doing their work to ensure that the American public has up-to-date guidance, based on the best-available evidence, about preventive health care services. The USPSTF guidance is critical to a healthy America, and we must not allow its membership or processes to be politicized.”
Terminations
The two fired USPSTF members were John Wong, a professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine, and Esa Davis, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. According to reports, they received a letter from Kennedy, dated May 11, notifying them they were terminated “effective immediately.”
As to why they were fired, the letter stated: “This action is administrative in nature and is unrelated to your performance or many years of dedicated service to the Task Force. It is not to be understood as a removal based on your leadership or contributions. To the contrary, the Department is taking this step to help protect the Task Force and preserve confidence in the continuity and durability of its work.” It also said the terminations would “avoid uncertainty that could jeopardize the validity of future task force actions.”
The doctors pushed back, with email exchanges and a meeting with a Trump administration official, but the justification for the terminations remained murky.
Kennedy has previously disparaged the USPSTF, calling it too “woke” and “lackadaisical and negligent for 20 years.” He had also previously revealed plans to oust the panel.
Doctors are now calling for action to protect the task force. “The administration came after children’s immunizations, and now it’s coming after our mammograms and our other cancer screenings, and the medical community cannot let this happen,” former USPSTF chair Michael Silverstein told The New York Times.