The director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence – a joint initiative of the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine – alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he faced discrimination and retaliation from leadership before he was terminated from his clinical role.
Leadership with UNMC and Nebraska Medicine began recruiting Dr. Sunil Hingorani to lead the newly established center in 2020, according to the lawsuit, and he began his role as the director in May 2022. Prior to joining the center, Hingorani was a professor and researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. In announcing the hire, UNMC leadership said Hingorani was an internationally recognized expert in pancreatic cancer.
Hingorani alleged throughout the lawsuit that administration within UNMC and Nebraska Medicine put up “roadblocks” to his attempts at improving processes and procedures, like updating IT infrastructure and purchasing new equipment. He also alleges that he was retaliated against for raising concerns about funding issues.
Though Hingorani remains the director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence, he was terminated earlier this year from his clinical role. He alleges that his removal from the role was retaliatory and based on racial discrimination.
Hingorani sued UNMC, Nebraska Medicine, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, former UNMC Chancellor and current University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold, and Dr. Joann Sweasy, who is the director of Nebraska Medicine’s Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and UNMC’s Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases. He is seeking reinstatement, a money judgement for lost wages and back pay, and compensatory damages for mental suffering.
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence in 2018. In 2022, the Legislature approved a one-time investment of $15 million in state funding for the center. Those funds were dependent on $15 million in matching funds from philanthropic organizations.
Hingorani alleges in the lawsuit that the $15 million in state funds were treated as “an institutional slush fund rather than a restricted grant.” He alleged that, when the state declined to provide the $15 million in matching funds without proof of $15 million in philanthropic donations, UNMC and Nebraska Medicine used millions “earmarked for other areas of the [defendant’s] operations and put it into an account to show the state” that it had the required matching funds.
“As such, for nearly two years, Dr. Hingorani was using funds from an indeterminate source for which there was no coherent accounting,” the lawsuit said. “Upon information and belief, some or all of these funds were donations earmarked for other causes that the [defendants] impermissibly reallocated to trick the state into believing they had raised the requisite $15 [million].”
After raising concerns about the funding, Hingorani said he was subject to “significant retaliation.” In late 2024, according to the suit, Sweasy and other leadership members told Hingorani that he was no longer allowed to be present at the Pancreatic Diseases Specialty Clinic outside of specific times when he was scheduled to see patients.
Hingorani was told this was the result of the clinic team expressing issues with his leadership style, according to the lawsuit, but he alleges many members of the team were not contacted at all. He alleges that his removal from the clinic and a multidisciplinary team that made decisions about patient care directly contributed to a patient’s premature death.
In early 2026, according to the suit, Hingorani was terminated from his clinical role, though he continues to be employed in a research and director capacity at the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence.
In addition to retaliation, Hingorani also alleged that the university defendants and Sweasy discriminated against him for his race and national origin. Hingorai referenced five other scientists of East Asian descent who reported to Sweasy and were allegedly terminated or “forced out” in recent years.
In a joint statement, UNMC, Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska said they can’t comment on pending litigation.
“Our organizations are proud of our strong national reputation for excellence in research, education and service to Nebraska, as well as to be counted as one of the safest academic medical centers in the country,” the statement said.
Michael Willemen, an attorney for Hingorani, said in a statement that the defendants “squandered the tremendous opportunity to place the University of Nebraska at the forefront of the fight against pancreatic cancer.”
“Dr. Hingorani was treated with astonishing disregard, but the harm runs deeper,” Willemen said. “As the complaint alleges, critical research was delayed or thwarted, patient care was compromised, donors were betrayed, and resources were wasted. But, there is still time to right the ship and every Nebraskan should be demanding that Defendants do so immediately.”