Sanjiv Kaul, MD, a longtime cardiologist and former director of Portland-based Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cardiovascular Institute, alleges the university illegally cut his pay and then retaliated against him after he sued, The Oregonian reported July 26.
According to the report, Dr. Kaul first sued OHSU in December 2024, arguing the university cut his salary by about a quarter and wrongly justified the reduction under Oregon’s Equal Pay Act.
After mediation failed to resolve the dispute, Dr. Kaul expanded his lawsuit to allege OHSU retaliated by proposing an additional pay cut of nearly $98,000, redirecting donor funds that had long supported his research and reducing his lab space and other support. He argues the changes would strip his lab of the funding and resources it needs to continue its heart disease research.
In May 2026, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Benjamin Souede temporarily blocked OHSU from carrying out the proposed changes, writing that Dr. Kaul had shown a “sufficient likelihood of success” on his retaliation claim and that the changes could cause harm money alone could not repair. On July 22, following a two-day preliminary injunction hearing that included testimony from seven witnesses, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Souede converted that temporary order into a preliminary injunction, again finding a likelihood of success on the merits of Dr. Kaul’s retaliation claim, Paul Nuchanan, Dr. Kaul’s attorney, said in an email shared with Becker’s July 27. The injunction bars OHSU from cutting funding to Dr. Kaul’s lab, further reducing his pay or altering his lab space allocation, and will remain in place through the case’s February 2027 trial.
Mr. Souede is now deciding whether to keep that order in place as the case heads toward a February 2027 trial.
During a two-day hearing this week, attorneys argued over whether the proposed changes reflected legitimate management decisions or unlawful retaliation. OHSU declined to provide The Oregonian with a comment, citing the pending litigation. Dr. Kaul’s supervisor and the Knight Cardiovascular Institute’s current director, Joaquin Cigarroa, MD, testified Monday that an OHSU attorney drafted the January 2026 letter outlining the proposed changes, and that he later redirected donor funding after concluding he had the authority to do so as institute director, according to The Oregonian.
Nate Selden, MD, dean of OHSU’s School of Medicine, testified that the university prioritizes National Institutes of Health grants because they are considered the standard for research, help support the university’s research program and are more financially sustainable than philanthropy.
At the center of Dr. Kaul’s lawsuit is Oregon’s Equal Pay Act. He alleges OHSU misapplied the law when it cut his salary; his attorneys argue the law generally requires employers to raise the pay of lower-paid employees doing comparable work rather than cut the pay of higher-paid employees to close a gap. Dr. Kaul, who was 73 years old when he sued, also alleged age discrimination, arguing university leaders believed he was unlikely to leave and wanted to shift resources to younger faculty.
Dr. Kaul joined OHSU in 2005 after being recruited from University of Virginia Medical School in Charlottesville. He founded the Kaul Laboratory, became the inaugural director of the Knight Cardiovascular Institute and helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars in philanthropic and research funding, according to the lawsuit.
Dr. Kaul is seeking more than $2.1 million in damages, restoration of his salary and a declaration that OHSU violated Oregon’s Equal Pay Act.
“It is a huge relief to Dr. Kaul that the court concluded that [he] enjoys a likelihood of success on the merits of his claim that OHSU unlawfully retaliated against him,” Mr. Buchanan stated.
OHSU told Becker’s that it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
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