Atlas resigns as coronavirus adviser.
Dr. Scott Atlas, Stanford University’s coronavirus contrarian, has resigned from his post as President Donald Trump’s special adviser on the coronavirus pandemic, according to media reports.
His resignation letter, posted on Twitter Monday evening, did not offer details about his departure. His 130-day role was set to expire this week. It also did not describe any plans to return to his position as a senior fellow at Stanford University’s conservative Hoover Institution.
If he returns to campus, Atlas will likely face a chilly reception. The university’s Faculty Senate passed a resolution condemning his views, and leaders at Stanford University Medical School denounced Atlas for promoting what they called “falsehoods and misrepresentations of science.”
Atlas retaliated against his former colleagues by demanding that they withdraw their claims or face legal action. In his resignation letter, dated Dec. 1, Atlas commended his efforts as special adviser to the Trump administration’s work on the coronavirus pandemic, while wishing “all the best” to the incoming Biden administration. “I worked hard with a singular focus — to save lives and help Americans through this pandemic,” Atlas wrote, adding that he “always relied on the latest science and evidence, without any political consideration or influence.”
“I sincerely wish the new team all the best as they guide the nation through these trying, polarized times,” according to the letter.
A radiologist with no training in epidemiology or infectious disease, Atlas angered health experts while pushing a suite of controversial policy prescriptions. He has made disputed statements about controlling the pandemic through “natural immunity.” He asserted that the science of mask wearing is uncertain and took a libertarian-style approach to disease management, urging the reopening of schools and businesses.
One of his roles was to help prepare Trump with briefing materials. “If I hear the name again in 20 years it will be too soon,” Andrew M. Slavitt, former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Barack Obama, wrote on Twitter.
Earlier this month, Atlas traded barbs with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. He criticized Fauci as being a “political animal” who made dire warnings about the pandemic to undermine the president. Dr. Deborah Birx, who serves as the coronavirus response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, reportedly emerged from a meeting at the White House in late summer and told a colleague that she would never again sit in a meeting with Atlas.
As a diagnostic radiologist, Atlas specializes in interpreting images taken by X-ray, MRIs and CT scans. He served as a professor and chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center from 1998 to 2012. At the Hoover Institution, he has written about free-market care and economic policy.
His papers focus on the impact of government and the private sector on access, quality and pricing in health care.
Trump announced the Atlas appointment at a White House briefing in mid-August, saying Atlas has “many good ideas” and will take administration efforts to combat the pandemic to “a new level.”