Cases & Developments

Memorandum Opinion granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Fourth Amended Complaint.  Plaintiff, a cardiologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and a former director of the joint clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellowship program of the University and UPMC, alleged under Title VII that the University, UPMC, and three officials retaliated against him by removing him as director of the fellowship program and barring him from interacting with fellows and residents after he published an article critical of the use of race and ethnic factors in admissions in medical schools, residency programs, and fellowship programs.  The court dismissed plaintiff’s assertion that the March 2020 publication of his article was protected activity under Title VII, finding that it was a general complaint about the industry and did not specifically address practices at the University or UPMC.  It permitted him to proceed, however, regarding statements he made in a July 2020 meeting with University and UPMC officials in which he raised his concerns that their admissions practices might be contrary to law.