Anthony, who taught at Johns Hopkins University before moving to MSU in 2003, has held several high-profile positions in medicine and academia. Anthony’s MSU faculty profile states that he has received continuous award support from the NIH since the early 1980s, thanks to his recognition as an NIH Senior Scientist.

Dean of the College of Human Medicine Aron Sousa and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Chair Dawn Misra are also named as defendants in the suit.

As a result of MSU, Sousa and Misra’s actions, which Anthony’s lawyer argues violated his due process rights, he’s struggled to secure new NIH grants, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and suffered damage to his reputation.

An MSU spokesperson declined to comment, saying the university does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Anthony, Sousa, Misra and Anthony’s lawyers were not available for comment.

Around 2007, as Anthony was weighing whether to remain at MSU or return to Johns Hopkins, MSU promised to pay him three tranches of $50,000 each, the lawsuit states. More than ten years later, in 2018 or 2019, Anthony inquired about the delivery of the final tranche, whose delivery had been delayed after the previous dean of the college had been replaced by Sousa.

After Anthony inquired about the payment, he then received a letter accusing him of unspecified “inappropriate behaviors,” which were later specified to be instances of bullying, intimidation, and disrespect, the suit states. He later learned that the accusation stemmed from a series of emails regarding how to adapt to COVID-era shutdown procedures.

Anthony’s lawyers allege that Anthony was not told what he was being accused of. They also say he was not given information about those emails in the initial letter, nor was he told this information during a subsequent January 2022 meeting with Misra. The suit also alleges that Anthony’s university representation at a later mediation session did not advocate for Anthony or improve his understanding of the alleged misconduct.

Meanwhile and without Anthony’s knowledge, the suit states, Misra indicated to the NIH’s program director for epidemiology research that she was removing Anthony as a principal investigator for R25 grants, which support educational activities to promote interest in biomedical research.

Anthony’s lawyers claim MSU, Sousa and Misra failed to follow MSU’s policy for resolving such disputes while also failing to follow the NIH’s policies on reporting misconduct. 

For about a year following his removal, Anthony’s name appeared on an NIH list of experts who could no longer serve on peer review panels, the lawsuit states. The NIH had also requested that MSU periodically monitor Anthony’s interactions with the pre-award team and the department for one year.

Despite Anthony filing a grievance in March 2022, there was no recourse to an independent review of the evidence against him because MSU had classified its discipline of Anthony as “minor misconduct." In June of that year, Anthony was informed that the grievance panel had met and found MSU, Sousa and Misra to not have violated any policy. Shortly thereafter, the lawsuit states, the defendants contacted the NIH and had Anthony removed as the principal investigator of a five-year $1.4 million research grant.

MSU continued to prohibit Anthony from applying to new NIH grants until early 2024, the suit alleges.