A top nutrition researcher at the National Institutes of Health is “retiring” early after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allegedly censored reporting of his research.
Dr. Kevin Hall, a senior investigator at the NIH who studies ultra-processed foods, announced in an X post that he took an early retirement offer after Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services denied an interview request about his study from The New York Times.
“I had hoped to expand our research program with ambitious plans to more rapidly and efficiently determine how our food is likely making Americans chronically sick,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, recent events have made me question whether NIH continues to be a place where I can freely conduct unbiased science.”
After 21 years at my dream job, I’m very sad to announce my early retirement from the National Institutes of Health. My life’s work has been to scientifically study how our food environment affects what we eat, and how what we eat affects our physiology. Lately, I’ve focused on… pic.twitter.com/JSybxCujDH
— Kevin Hall (@KevinH_PhD) April 16, 2025
In a Thursday night interview on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, Hall said the HHS denied an interview request from The New York Times over concerns that the data from his study could be viewed as divergent from the agency’s narratives on ultra-processed food addiction.
“Any hint of daylight between a preconceived narrative and what the science was actually showing was telling me that there’s a problem here,” Hall said. “Are we willing to actually listen to what the studies are showing, or are we only interested in purveying the preconceived narrative and anything else should be downplayed?”
Hall was optimistic when Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” objectives included removing ultra-processed foods from schools, but he didn’t end up getting the support he expected.
Hall said he hoped that the censorship incident was an aberration, so he reached out to HHS leadership and requested time to discuss his concerns.
“I never received a response,” he said. “Without any reassurance there wouldn’t be continued censorship or meddling in our research, I felt compelled to accept early retirement to preserve health insurance for my family.”
Last month, the country’s top vaccine official left the Food and Drug Administration after he was told that he would be fired if he did not resign.
In a blistering resignation letter, Dr. Peter Marks said “it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”
A top spokesperson at the HHS also abruptly departed the agency last month after clashing with Kennedy over the measles outbreak in Texas.
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