A dispute between radiology faculty at the University of Iowa has gone public, with a professor charging in local newspapers that the department's chair called him an "academic terrorist" and retaliated against him for filing a discrimination complaint with the university.
Nuclear medicine physician Malik Juweid, MD, said his career has stagnated due to retaliation against him by Laurie Fajardo, MD, a noted breast imaging specialist who became head of the university's radiology department in 2002. Juweid claims that Fajardo has underpaid radiology faculty, mismanaged the department, and made racist comments about him and other radiology staff members.
Juweid's campaign won wider publicity in December, when local newspapers ran articles on the dispute, which has widened to include complaints that Juweid has filed against two other university administrators.
Butting heads
Juweid said he and Fajardo began butting heads not long after she was hired as chair of the radiology department in 2002. He said that Fajardo was unhappy with his outspoken nature, which he believes is consistent with the university's emphasis on vigorous academic debate.
For example, Juweid said that one of the earliest incidents of friction came during a talk on breast imaging that Fajardo gave to radiology residents shortly after she joined the department. Fajardo was lecturing on the difference between the terms "incidence" and "prevalence" but mixed their definitions.
Juweid said he raised his hand and corrected Fajardo publicly in the meeting, in an effort to ensure that residents were not misled. While Fajardo acknowledged that she had misspoke, Juweid said he subsequently suffered a string of hostile and retaliatory actions.
These included a lack of support for Juweid in his attempts to secure research grants, as well as delayed promotions and salary increases, all of which have impeded his chances for career advancement.
"Because of the lack of help, I was unable to get any major grant funding like RO1 grants that would result in high-impact publications," Juweid told AuntMinnie.com. "That delayed my career, and I wasn't able to become prominent enough to get a chief position in nuclear medicine."
An 'academic terrorist'
Most disturbing to Juweid has been what he claims is Fajardo's alleged discriminatory treatment of foreign-born faculty at the university. Juweid, who was born in Jordan and is a naturalized U.S. citizen of Arab-Christian descent, claims that a colleague told him that Fajardo referred to him as an "academic terrorist" in conversation. And he claims that other colleagues heard her make repeated references to Osama bin Laden when speaking to a visiting radiologist from Pakistan.
"She used to say 'Where is Osama? Have you seen Osama today?' " Juweid said. "He's a very nice fellow, a regular guy and harmless, and she would make fun of him."
Finally, Juweid claims that faculty salaries in the University of Iowa's radiology department have lagged those at comparable institutions in the Midwest. Salaries for university radiologists are in the bottom 15-20th percentile, with pay rates that are 35% lower than that of the average radiologist or nuclear medicine physician in the Midwest, Juweid claims.
Juweid said that in June 2010 he and 10 other members of the department's faculty wrote a letter to Paul Rothman, MD, dean of the university's Carver College of Medicine, asking that Fajardo step down or undergo early review. The dean then met with the group the next month, but no action was taken, so Juweid filed a complaint against Fajardo with the university in September.
In November, Juweid filed a separate complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission against Lois Geist, MD, associate dean of faculty affairs and faculty development, charging that she accused him of insubordination and threatened to terminate his employment for his activities against Fajardo. In December, Juweid added Rothman to this complaint, charging that the dean had reneged on a promise to implement a permanent alternative reporting structure to resolve his conflict with Fajardo.
Frustrated with the slow pace of the university's investigation, Juweid filed a complaint against Fajardo with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. He also contacted local newspapers about the situation, with articles on the imbroglio appearing on December 20 in both the Des Moines Register and the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
University of Iowa spokesperson Thomas Moore declined to comment on the accusations but supplied a statement outlining the university's position.
"The [University of Iowa (UI)] takes all such complaints very seriously and is thoroughly investigating the validity of each of those complaints under its processes and policies," the statement reads. "Unlike Malik Juweid, because this is a confidential personnel matter, the UI is prohibited from discussing the specifics of the complaints filed."
Juweid acknowledged the unusual nature of going public with personnel matters, but said he chose to contact the newspapers after becoming frustrated with the slow pace and apparent lack of seriousness in the university's resolution of his complaint. The publicity has already hurt his chances for future employment, he claims, with at least one university declining to interview him for a job after the newspaper articles were published.
Nevertheless, Juweid continues to pursue his cause due to his belief that universities shouldn't tolerate discrimination. With respect to Fajardo, he believes that she would better serve the university as a researcher or in a clinical role rather than as department head.
"If she steps down all the problems will be solved, I will withdraw my complaint, and everyone will be happy," Juweid said. "I don't want her to leave the faculty. She should be able to do good clinical research, and she should be clinically competent."
By Brian Casey
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
January 3, 2011
Copyright © 2011 AuntMinnie.com
