The University of Iowa has suspended salary payments to a nuclear medicine physician who has been embroiled in a personnel dispute with the school.
The university has placed Dr. Malik Juweid on unpaid administrative leave, according to university spokesperson Tom Moore. Juweid confirmed with AuntMinnie.com that his pay was suspended on December 28; his annual salary had been $241,000 plus benefits worth $45,000.
Juweid said he has asked a judge for an emergency ruling to compel the university to continue to pay him until he receives a hearing. He remains on the university's faculty in spite of the move.
Juweid has accused the former chair of the university's radiology department, Dr. Laurie Fajardo, of harassment and racial bias due to his background as an Arab-American. Juweid and the university traded charges and countercharges throughout 2011, with the university announcing in October that Fajardo would step down as radiology chair. Her last day in the position was January 1, although she remains on the university's faculty.
