A cardiologist who sued UPMC alleging retaliation after reporting an alleged conflict of interest involving the health system’s CEO has agreed to dismiss his lawsuit, with UPMC stating no money or compensation was paid, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
Hemal Gada, MD, filed suit in March alleging UPMC retaliated against him after he raised concerns about CEO Leslie Davis’ paid board seat at Edwards Lifesciences, a medical device company with multimillion-dollar transactions with UPMC, and her alleged use of the UPMC private jet to attend Edwards board meetings. Dr. Gada also alleged retaliation related to a separate complaint about racist text messages between two UPMC physicians. He was terminated in August 2025 after being placed on suspension and informed of an HR investigation into his professional conduct.
The case was dismissed with prejudice last month. UPMC said Dr. Gada “acknowledged that he was not aware of certain facts relevant to his conflict-of-interest claims when he filed his lawsuit.”
UPMC had previously argued in a motion to dismiss that Dr. Gada was fired for deficient clinical performance and a pattern of bullying coworkers, and that Davis’ Edwards board seat had been publicly disclosed through Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Becker’s has reached out to UPMC and will update the story if more information becomes available.
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