Firing Prevention Experts Will Not Make Us Healthy Again

By Michael Silverstein and John Wong

Drs. Silverstein and Wong are former chairs of the United States Preventive Services Task Force. Dr. Wong was fired in May 2026.

Last week, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the two leaders of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a powerful expert panel whose recommendations shape preventive services, like cancer screenings, for millions of Americans. They were given little explanation for their firing, besides a vague pronouncement in a letter they received from Mr. Kennedy that it had been done “to protect the integrity of the task force’s work.”

One of us (Dr. Silverstein) served as the task force chair until March, when he left, as planned, when his term was up; the other (Dr. Wong) was one of the two........

© The New York Times