Despite Dr. Michael Joyner's positive job reviews, Mayo Clinic cites unprofessional behavior

Nov. 21—ROCHESTER — Mayo Clinic disciplined Dr. Michael Joyner for an unprofessional "pattern of behavior" in March. But his positive annual performance reviews for 2020, 2021 and 2022 feature comments including that he is "a most respected and influential clinician" who "elevated colleagues across Mayo."

Joyner, a world-renowned anesthesiologist and physiologist, is suing Mayo Clinic for "punitive" discipline actions against him for statements to the media described as "problematic" as well as "unprofessional" behavior. He claims the discipline is retaliation for his role in a whistleblowing report in 2020.

On March 5, 2023, Joyner's supervisor, Dr. Carlos Mantilla, sent him a

disciplinary letter that cited his use of "idiomatic language" in interviews with CNN and the New York Times.

Those were described in his disciplinary letter as "problematic and reflect(ing) poorly on Mayo Clinic's brand and reputation."

The letter stated that he used an "unpleasant" tone with a "bullying" quality with colleagues. Mantilla also wrote, "Over the years, you have failed to consistently work within Mayo Clinic guidelines related to media interactions."

Mayo Clinic suspended Joyner for one week without pay in March and withheld a scheduled raise as well as curtailing his availability for media interviews. Joyner appealed his suspension. A committee of Mayo Clinic physician peers upheld the disciplinary action.

In response,

Joyner filed a lawsuit

in Olmsted County's Third Judicial Court on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. Named in the lawsuit are Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. Gianrico Farrugia and Mantilla.

Joyner is requesting a jury trial. He seeks damages in an amount to be established during the trial, and an order for Mayo Clinic to cease its interference with his style of communication.

A review of Joyner's annual performance reports written by Mantilla for 2020-2022 show no mention of unprofessional conduct. They do feature glowing comments about Joyner's work at Mayo Clinic. These comments were written in 2022:

* "Dr. Joyner played a key role in developing a therapy for COVID that saved 10s, if not 100s of thousands of lives."

* "Dr. Joyner's leadership in the department and institution is much appreciated. The impact of him pivoting his research in support of the Convalescent Plasma EAP cannot be overstated."

* "A true innovator. Fearless. Gets things done. Promotes others and helps them achieve. Never too busy to help a colleague."

Under the categories of Professionalism and Interpersonal and Communication Skill, Joyner was described as "Meets or Exceeds Expectations" under every sub-category.

The only area that Mantilla wrote in December 2022 that Joyner needed to improve was "Continue to work on compassion for his detractors and those who would marginalize him."

Mayo Clinic Media Relations Director Andrea Kalmanovitz answered questions about why Joyner's unprofessional "pattern of behavior" was not mentioned in his annual performance reviews.

"Disciplinary reviews are conducted separately from routine performance reviews and involve gathering information beyond the scope of routine performance reviews," she wrote. "The disciplinary review regarding Dr. Joyner identified his unprofessional behaviors, his demand for a seven-figure payment, and resulted in discipline recommended by two separate committees of physician peers."

Weeks after the 2022 performance review, Joyner appeared in a Jan. 12, 2023, CNN story about his research related to convalescent plasma as a COVID treatment. The story, reported by Elizabeth Cohen, quoted Joyner as saying that he was "frustrated" with the National Institute of Health's "bureaucratic rope-a-dope" and its acting as a "wet blanket" toward the use of convalescent plasma as a COVID treatment.

His March 2023 discipline letter also cited comments Joyner made about the long-term effects of testosterone on transgender female athletes in a 2022 New York Times as "problematic in the media and the LGBTQI+ community at Mayo Clinic."

He was quoted saying, "There are social aspects to sport, but physiology and biology underpin it. Testosterone is the 800-pound gorilla."

In a statement this week, Mayo Clinic added that the Times article was not a factor in Joyner's discipline, despite being mentioned in the letter.

"Mayo Clinic did not discipline Dr. Joyner for statements he made about testosterone or transgender athletes. Mayo disciplined Dr. Joyner for continuing to treat coworkers unprofessionally in violation of Mayo policy and for making unprofessional comments about the National Institute of Health's (NIH) guidelines for convalescent plasma," wrote Kalmanovitz in response to questions about the lawsuit. "The comments to the New York Times regarding transgender athletes and testosterone were published in May of 2022, more than seven months before the 2023 disciplinary review even began. Those comments, along with the discipline from 2020, were listed to provide background and context for the issues that formed the basis of the 2023 discipline."

Joyner alleges in his lawsuit that the discipline by Farrugia and Mayo Clinic originated, in part, due to retaliation for his role in a whistleblowing case.

"In 2020, Joyner blew the whistle by reporting a Mayo business partner's attempt to unlawfully access and use protected patient data. Joyner's whistleblowing complicated Mayo CEO Farrugia's attempt to increase Mayo's profits. Farrugia and Mayo retaliated, labeling Joyner's whistleblowing 'unprofessional' to pretextually mask Mayo's unlawful retaliation," according to the lawsuit.

In the summer of 2020, Joyner reported to Dr. R. Scott Wright that two employees of MITRE Corp., a McLean, Virginia-based nonprofit that Mayo Clinic was working with on the convalescent plasma research, tried to access Mayo Clinic patient data. Wright is chairman of the Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board.

Joyner states that his report resulted in a formal complaint against MITRE. Mayo Clinic formally sanctioned MITRE in September 2020.

In the wake of Joyner's complaints about MITRE, he claims that Farrugia initiated a "pretextual disciplinary process against him" and a letter of reprimand described Joyner's actions as "unprofessional." In 2021, Joyner filed an internal retaliation complaint against Farrugia for the 2020 reprimand. That, he said, resulted in an additional reprimand against him for complaining and displaying a "lack of professionalism."

While MITRE did not respond to questions about the incident, the nonprofit did bring Joyner in to speak at a MITRE conference in December 2022 about the military national security implications of his human performance work.

Mayo Clinic states that the 2020 reprimand stemmed from making on a demand for more compensation.

"Mayo intends to show that in 2020, in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Joyner gave Mayo an ultimatum, demanding that Mayo agree to give him a seven-figure payment within 48 hours," wrote Kalmanovitz.

Joyner's attorney, Kellie Miller of Allen Harris Law, describes Mayo Clinic's "ultimatum" comments as "false allegations." Miller shared an email correspondence between Joyner and Farrugia from June 2021. Joyner described creating "a whole new book of business for Mayo" over a three-month period that generated $54 million and goodwill at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

He claimed that Mayo Clinic was asking him to be the "intellectual architect" of an intramuscular injection derived from plasma as a business opportunity.

"So, tell me why I should do this without compensation, and why that compensation should not be very generous?," Joyner wrote. "This needs to get resolved in the next few days so we can either move forward or you guys can find another person to lead it, and I can pursue other opportunities or just work less."