The Dispute Index

Adrian Shanker

Adrian Shanker is a health-policy consultant, writer and senior fellow at Lehigh University's College of Health. He previously served as a deputy assistant secretary for health policy and an LGBTQI+ health-equity adviser at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Website (opens in a new tab)

What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by Adrian Shanker on Health Care, Political Violence, and Scientific Research, among other topics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

Topics in this coverage

Statements by Adrian Shanker

Adrian Shanker

Role at the time: Former HHS deputy assistant secretary for health policy

Condemned

Statement summary

Shanker contrasts the report's commissioning with research practices during his service at HHS. He argues that the administration selected politically aligned researchers to support a conclusion chosen in advance.

“That's vastly different from how this administration seems to already have the answers for the reports they're publishing before they start. And they're partnering with politically-aligned researchers and think tanks to develop reports that meet a political conclusion rather than a scientific one,”
Open source (opens in a new tab)What's behind HHS claims that gender-affirming care 'may' radicalize - NPRInterviews with Lilliana Mason and Adrian Shanker; updated October 2
Why we used this label

Relative to the HHS report's claim linking gender-affirmation support with authoritarianism and violence, the speaker criticizes its methods, framing or use.

Read statementDoes the HHS report support linking gender-affirming guidance to authoritarianism and violence justification?

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.