SYRACUSE, N.Y. Upstate Medical University has abruptly ousted the dean of its medical school.

In an email sent to employees this morning, Upstate said Dr. Julio Licinio has been replaced by Dr. Lawrence S. Chin, the head of its neurosurgery department, effectively immediately.

Dr. Julio Lucinio, former dean of Upstate's medical school.

Licinio, who was hired in 2017, is suing Upstate over his removal.

In a federal lawsuit, he claims Upstate violated his employment contract and retaliated against him for raising concerns about discrimination.

On Sept. 11 Licinio said he was honored at Upstates annual convocation as a distinguished professor.

The next day, Licinio received a letter informing him he was immediately being terminated from his leadership position and demoted to professor, the lawsuit says. He was offered an opportunity to resign, but refused. The suit claims Upstate was required to give him an eight-month notice and transition period if it wanted to remove him.

Licinio declined to comment and referred questions to his attorney. Upstate declined to say why it replaced him.

In addition to medical school dean, Licinio was a senior vice president at Upstate. He was paid $592,250 in 2018, state payroll records show.

Licinio, 60, a native of Brazil, is a psychiatrist who came to Upstate from Australia, where he worked at a research institute and taught at a university. He has done extensive research on depression. He also has worked at UCLA, Yale and the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Licinio says in his suit he was never accused of misconduct or incompetence.

He wrote in court papers that he believed his termination stemmed from a conflict with his boss, Dr. Mantosh Dewan, Upstates interim president, who frequently questioned him about minority professors and if the university was spending too much money on diversity.

Licinios wife, Dr. Ma Li Wong, also works at Upstate as a psychiatry professor. Earlier this year her annual salary was cut by $45,000. The lawsuit does not disclose the amount of her salary. But state payroll records show she was paid $221,543 in 2018.

Licinio said he told Dewan in August his wife, an Asian-Latina, might have a discrimination claim over the pay reduction. " ... to my knowledge no white male professor was ever subjected to a salary reduction of this type," Licinio says in the suit.

Dewan did not respond to Licinios statement, but said he would get back to him, according to the suit.

In a letter to Upstate staff, Dewan thanked Licinio for his service to Upstate and said he would remain on the faculty of the psychiatry department.

Dr. Licinio was awarded the rank of SUNY Distinguished Professor in recognition of his international prominence and contributions to his research, Dewan said in his letter.

Licinio is asking a federal judge to issue an order forcing Upstate to give him his job back.

Licinio is the latest in an exodus of top Upstate officials hired by Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena, who resigned last year as Upstates president.

Those departures include:

Laraque-Arena, who became president in 2016, stepped down after her leadership came under scrutiny.

Syracuse.com revealed that while she was president the academic medical center entered into a secret deal to pay a former hospital CEO $660,500 for an off-campus assignment that involved no work.

That revelation triggered an investigation of Upstate by the State Comptroller that is still pending.

-- Reporter Julie McMahon contributed to this report

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Upstate abruptly ousts $592K-a-year medical school dean; he's suing - syracuse.com