I honestly don't know how Dr. Hayden got assigned to the DSMB, was he on a recommended list somewhere? However, when you consider it was early on in the pandemic having a trial monitored by someone associated with Fauci, the top dr. in the White House might have seemed like a great idea, if you are an unknown small biotech and want your drug discovered. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say, I think a lot of US citizens can see Dr. Fauci's true colors now.

Either way, the conflicts of interest issues don't go away after someone is assigned to the DSMB for a trial. Trials can take years to complete, and conflicts sometimes arise in the meantime. That's why they are supposed to be revisited before every meeting. Hayden's conflicts might not have been known at the outset, but by our interim review, they definitely were known and should have been disclosed.