Vaccine skeptic Dr. Ryan Cole to stay on board of Idaho’s largest public health district

Dr. Ryan Cole, an Idaho pathologist who has been a vocal critic of COVID vaccines, is staying on the board that advises the state’s largest public health district.

Cole’s re-appointment — initiated nearly a month ago by the Ada County Board of Commissioners, and later made official by votes from surrounding rural counties — puts him on the Central District Health board for a term that ends June 2031, according to health district spokesperson Stephanie Geanopulos. 

The Ada County Board of Commissioners, consisting of three elected Republicans representing Idaho’s most populated county, unanimously voted on June 16 to re-appoint Cole. His first term expired in June. 

Cole has served on the Central District Health board since 2021, when he was first appointed by Ada County Commissioners Rod Beck and Ryan Davidson. Central District Health serves four counties: Ada, Boise, Elmore and Valley.

In votes of three of the four counties in Central District Health, enough commissioners voted to reappoint Cole for his role to become official again, Geanopulos said. The health district hasn’t yet heard back from Valley County, she said. 

Cole could not immediately be reached for comment.

In 2024, Southwest Idaho Health District’s board voted to stop offering COVID vaccines, Boise State Public Radio. That came after anti-vaccine testimony from Cole and other doctors. 

Central District Health’s website still advertises appointments for COVID vaccines. But Greg Ferch, a chiropractor who serves as chairman of the Central District Health board and recommended Cole be re-appointed, said that he’d be open to the health district pursuing a similar policy.

“That is something to be considered, but that didn’t have anything to do with why I suggested he retain or remain on the board,” Ferch said in an interview on Monday. 

Idaho medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Ryan Cole ends after legal agreement reached

In his time on the regional health board, Cole has faced a wave of scrutiny — including restrictions on his medical license in the state of Washington, and a medical malpractice lawsuit that was dismissed months after a half dozen doctors said they disagreed with Cole’s allegedly false cancer diagnosis that led a woman to undergo major surgery.

Ada County Commissioner on re-appointing Cole

The Ada County Board of Commissioners’ chair, Beck, said in an interview that Ferch recommended that Cole be reappointed.

Ferch described Cole as a great, engaging person to work with on the board, calling his willingness to have an “open and honest conversation” important for policymaking. 

“He has an amazing understanding of human physiology, and he’s a huge proponent of informed consent. And those are two things that I think are very, very important — and that we may have lost sight of a few years ago … during the COVID days,” Ferch said.

In March, Cole was named head of medical and scientific affairs at the Independent Medical Alliance, which promotes COVID treatments that are unproven, the Idaho Statesman reported. 

Since being appointed to health district role, Cole’s medical license has been restricted in Washington

Since his initial appointment, Cole has had his medical license in the state of Washington restricted after state regulators found he shared COVID misinformation and improperly treated COVID patients with ivermectin. The Idaho Board of Medicine last year reached an agreement with Cole — instead of proceedings toward possible sanctions — that required him to comply with the disciplinary order in Washington state. 

In Idaho last year, a medical malpractice lawsuit against Cole by a woman who underwent major surgery — after she alleged Cole falsely diagnosed her with cancer — was dismissed under a secretive legal agreement. That was months after six doctors disagreed with Cole’s cancer diagnosis, including two independent pathologist doctors who called Cole’s diagnosis “reckless” in legal declarations. 

In re-appointing Cole to the health board, Beck, the chairman of the Ada County Board of Commissioners, said he didn’t talk about those issues with him.

Asked why he re-appointed Cole despite the criticism he’s faced, Beck said “I’m not even going to respond to that because all I’m worried about is: Is the Central District Health functioning properly?”

At another point, Beck said that files about the COVID pandemic released by former National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard corroborated Cole’s claims.

Cole has said he had to sell his laboratory following public backlash. His business, Cole Diagnostics, remains under an active registration with the Secretary of State’s Office. 

In 2024, Cole let his Idaho medical license expire, despite an Idaho law requiring at least one member of a health district board be a licensed physician. He later reinstated it and remained on the board. Before his Idaho medical license was set to expire this year, he renewed it until May 2030.