Likewise, Jan Carney, president of the American College of Physicians, said the group was “alarmed” in criticizing the firing of the two doctors from the task force.
“Both doctors are highly qualified experts and we take issue with the lack of transparency in any review Secretary Kennedy conducted of the task force members,” Carney said. “The layoffs come as the task force has not met for the past year and has been prevented from doing its job to ensure that the American public has up-to-date guidance, based on the best available evidence, on preventive health care services. USPSTF guidance is critical to a healthy America, and we must not allow its membership or processes to become politicized.”
Terminations
The two fired members of the USPSTF were John Wong, a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Esa Davis, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. They reportedly received a letter from Kennedy, dated May 11, notifying them that they had been fired “effective immediately.”
As to why they were fired, the letter said: “This action is administrative in nature and is not related to your performance or many years of dedicated service to the Task Force. It should not be understood as a dismissal based on your leadership or contributions. Rather, the Department is taking this step to help protect the Task Force and preserve confidence in the continuity and durability of its work.” He also said the layoffs would “avoid uncertainties that could jeopardize the validity of future task force actions.”
The doctors responded, with email exchanges and a meeting with a Trump administration official, but the justification for the layoffs remained confusing.
Kennedy has previously disparaged the USPSTF, also calling it “I woke up” and “indifferent and negligent for 20 years.” He had also previously revealed plans to dismiss the panel.
Doctors are now calling for measures to protect the work group. “The administration came after childhood vaccines, and now it comes after our mammograms and other cancer screenings, and the medical community cannot let this happen,” former USPSTF president Michael Silverstein told the New York Times.
