RFK, Jr.’s overhauled autism advisory board cancels first public meeting

Revamped RFK Jr. Autism Advisory Committee cancels first public meeting

By Allison Parshall edited by Tanya Lewis

The government’s autism research advisory council has canceled a public meeting scheduled for March 19. This would have been the first public meeting of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), a group that guides federally funded autism research, since Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., completely overhauled the group’s membership in January. He named 21 new members, some of whom are vaccine skeptics.

News of the cancellation was announced March 7, the same week a group of autism experts formed an independent group to combat misinformation. This outside group, which calls itself the Independent Autism Coordinating Committee (I-ACC), has scheduled a meeting on the same day as the federal IACC meeting. The rival group includes several former members of the federal advisory council.

The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the cancellation in an email to Scientific American. In a message shared on

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The IACC historically meets four times a year to discuss directions in autism research and make recommendations to leaders of federal agencies that study autism or provide services to people with autism. It has not met since President Trump took office for his second term.

The formation of a competing committee of autism scientists is part of a broader initiative to address public health gaps left by agencies during the Trump administration. This includes states forming regional health alliances and medical organizations issuing recommendations on the vaccination schedule.

Helen Tager-Flusberg, an autism researcher who served on the federal advisory committee from 2019 to 2025, is now a member of the 12-person independent panel. In a statement sent to Scientific American, she said the new group “will become a critical tool in forcefully responding to the HHS secretary’s damage to the future of autism science by appointing a committee made up of people who reject decades of evidence about the causes of autism.” »

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