SAN DIEGO — Internal emails obtained by STAT show that the American Association of Immunologists, the field’s leading scientific society, is sharply divided over California’s Proposition 38, even though it would provide $8.4 billion in taxpayer dollars for the type of research its members do.
The emails show that the association’s policy and advocacy committee met in July and later recommended that the organization rescind its endorsement of the measure after learning that Prop 38 would likely yield a windfall for a research center co-founded by the billionaire philanthropist who is its leading backer. But the association’s council, its governing body, voted in August to maintain the endorsement after meeting with the philanthropist, Gary Michelson.
In one email, AAI’s director of government affairs, Jacob Schumacher, wrote that five members of the association’s council voted to keep the endorsement, with one opposed and two abstentions. These details have not previously been made public, and a separate message from Schumacher indicates AAI, which has more than 7,700 members, did not plan to share them.