Emilia Sykes

AKRON, Ohio -- A Northeast Ohio congresswoman is raising alarms ahead of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s scheduled appearance at The City Club of Cleveland, warning that his presence risks lending false credibility to what she characterized as conspiracy theories and pseudoscience.

Rep. Emilia Sykes spoke out in anticipation of Kennedy’s Thursday evening visit, criticizing his leadership of one of the federal government’s largest agencies.

“The backdrop of the best hospital in the world … provides the Secretary with a faux sense of credibility by attempting to use the good name of the Cleveland Clinic to stand at the backdrop while he spews these conspiracy theories and junk science,” Sykes said in an interview.

Sykes’ 13th Congressional District does not include Cleveland, but does include Northeast Ohio communities such as Akron, Canton, Hudson, Kent, Streetsboro, Twinsburg and more.

Kennedy is scheduled to speak Thursday at The City Club’s home at 1317 Euclid Avenue. Doors open at 5:15 p.m., with the forum beginning at 6 p.m. The event is open to City Club members only and sold out.

Individuals can also sign up with their email to livestream the event online.

Kennedy was confirmed last year to lead HHS over the strong objections from much of the medical and scientific community. He oversees a department with a nearly $2 trillion annual budget.

Related: RFK Jr. to speak at City Club of Cleveland May 7

It encompasses the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Sykes, a member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and Black Maternal Health Caucus, pointed to several positions pushed by Kennedy that she said have been particularly damaging, including anti-vaccination policies and cuts to research grants.

Sykes also criticized Kennedy for supporting changes that critics say would scale back or eliminate federal collection of race and ethnicity‑specific health data, which researchers and advocates rely on to track disparities in outcomes such as maternal mortality.

“For example … we have seen the disparities between Black mothers and white mothers, and what those death rates look like,“ Sykes said. ”To suggest that, and I think he even did this during a committee hearing, that ‘we just look at everyone and it’ll be fine.’ We’ve been looking at everyone, and it has not been fine.”

Sykes also pointed to the cuts to Medicaid in Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act as particularly damaging to Northeast Ohioans, particularly for safety-net hospitals and patients who rely on charity care.

“That constant undermining is not only negative for our patient care, but also for our economy and our economic future and viability,” she said.

Sykes has advanced several proposals that aim to improve health outcomes as member of Congress, including the bipartisan Food Farmacy Act, which seeks to expand access to healthy foods and nutritional guidance.