The University of Iowa, state Board of Regents, and a UI professor have submitted their answer in a lawsuit involving a former visiting professor.

Ravi Sood, who worked in the nuclear-medicine department at the UI beginning in July 2008, sued his former employers for a breach of an employment contract, according to court documents.

Less than a month after Sood gained full clinical privileges, Michael Graham, the director of nuclear medicine in the Carver College of Medicine, told Sood he was going to revoke his clinical privileges, according to court documents. Sood was without such privileges for roughly two months.

In addition, Graham allegedly forced Sood to sign a document that reduced his time commitment to 55 percent time.

According to the lawsuit, Sood is alleging Graham and the UI did not follow the correct processes outlined by the UI Hospital and Clinics before they terminated his privileges. He has since been unable to obtain employment.

The defense denied most elements of the three counts against them, including that Sood performed all of his contracted obligations and that they breached the contract.

— by Sam Lane