Dr. Ryan Cole, a Garden City pathologist and Central District Health Board member, has been appointed to a senior leadership position at the Independent Healthcare Alliance.
The organization, formerly known as the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, is a small group of doctors who, like Cole, have promoted ivermectin and other unproven COVID-19 treatments during the pandemic. Cole has been named the alliance’s director of medical and scientific affairs, according to a March 5 news release.
In October 2021, the Idaho State Medical Association filed a complaint against Cole with the Board of Medicine, stating that he prescribed ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug, to COVID-19 patients, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
“Our primary concern is that he says he refuses to use accepted, documented medical practices and vaccinations and instead prescribes ivermectin to treat patients ‘from Florida to California,'” the complaint states. “We believe his practice … is causing more harm than good. It should be stopped.”
A statement released by the Alliance for Independent Medicine praised Cole’s defiance of mainstream medical guidance.
“He is a physician who will follow the data wherever it leads, even if it means standing firm against the medical status quo,” Dr. Joseph Varon, the organization’s president and chief medical officer, said in the release. “Dr. Cole was one of the first doctors in the country to sound the alarm that COVID-19 vaccines cause myocarditis and other serious heart complications. He stood firm when others refused to acknowledge the data.”
Dr. Ryan Cole, a pathologist who owns a medical laboratory in Garden City, speaks at the 2021 White Coats Summit of America’s Frontline Physicians in San Antonio, Texas.
Some cases of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, have been observed after young men received the second dose of the mRNA vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says such cases are rare and most patients are discharged from the hospital with symptoms in remission.
The topic came up at a local Southwest District Health meeting in October 2024, when Caldwell’s board members narrowly voted to stop administering COVID-19 vaccines at the health district’s clinics after some anti-vaccine doctors, including Cole, gave a presentation via video call claiming the vaccine would do more harm than good. Major global health organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association, have said the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines far outweigh their risks.
The move means residents who want to pay to get vaccinated at clinics run by the health district will no longer be able to do so. (Newer vaccines at the time cost about $200 out of pocket, but the health district was able to purchase the vaccine at a discount and make it available to uninsured residents at a lower price.)
In his new role at the Alliance for Independent Medicine, Cole will be able to direct the organization’s science communication initiatives, according to a release from the organization.
“Medicine must return to science based on real-world clinical data and the sacred doctor-patient relationship,” Cole said in the release. “In this new role, I look forward to helping translate frontline clinical evidence into responsible education, meaningful research collaborations and policy solutions to improve patient outcomes and restore trust in health care.”
Cole narrowly received the votes needed to become the sole physician on the Boise-area Central District Health Board in 2021. The board directs Idaho’s largest regional public health district.
He previously ran an independent medical laboratory called Cole Diagnostics in Garden City, which closed in December 2022. Cole founded the lab in 2004. Express Lab, an Idaho company, now provides laboratory services at the original location.
The Independent Medical Alliance was founded by several doctors, including Paul Marik and Pierre Kory, who all had their certifications revoked by the American Board of Internal Medicine in August 2024 for promoting ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 long after the medical community found it was ineffective.
In January 2024, the Washington Medical Board restricted Cole’s medical license in Washington state after state regulators determined he knowingly spread false information about COVID-19.
He also accidentally let his Idaho driver’s license expire for 65 days in the summer of 2024. It was later reactivated.
Cole did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment.
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