UCSF Lawsuit: Doctor Sues Over Gaza Speech
UCSF Doctor Files Free Speech Lawsuit after Firing
Updated June 07, 2025
Dr. Rupa Marya, a physician, activist, and author, has filed two lawsuits against the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), alleging violations of her First Amendment rights and civil rights. Marya claims UCSF fired her in May for expressing support for Palestinian rights and criticizing U.S. policy regarding Israel.
According to Marya, UCSF began targeting her long before her advocacy for Palestine, focusing on her research into the impacts of colonialism and structural racism in healthcare. She co-authored the book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice.
Marya said her firing followed months of “repression, harassment, intimidation, defamation” allegedly coordinated with California State Senator Scott Wiener. she contends that UCSF leadership has been repressing healthcare workers for 20 months.
The doctor said she was suspended and her medical license was attacked. She also said she was publicly defamed for advocating for the rights of Palestinians.
Marya alleges that after she said “stop bombing hospitals,” she received a barrage of online threats. She claims UCSF did not respond to her request for help initially, and later told her she was under examination for her protected speech.
I didn’t expect that my career-ending move would be to say “stop bombing hospitals,” for expressing support for Palestinian liberation and for criticizing the U.S.-backed genocide in Israel.
Marya said she received death threats and rape threats after UCSF, allegedly in coordination with Wiener, published defamatory statements about her on social media. She also said faculty members were asked to file false reports of her clinical behavior.
She claims UCSF’s largest donor, the Diller Foundation, also donates to Wiener and the Canary Mission, a website with ties to the Israeli government that allegedly doxxes individuals.
Marya said that in 2020, UCSF was proactive in protecting her safety when she received threats while writing her book and speaking about COVID-19. However, she said the university did not respond when she asked for help after receiving threats in November 2023.
The lawsuits aim to hold UCSF accountable and ensure healthcare workers can advocate for Palestinian rights. Marya believes it is a moral and professional obligation to speak out about the harm to children and the destruction of healthcare infrastructure in Gaza.
It is our moral and professional obligation to speak out about children being harmed in the ways that they are in Gaza, about hospitals and the whole healthcare structure being destroyed in Gaza, and about our healthcare colleagues who have been abducted, tortured and killed in Gaza.
What’s next
Marya is seeking reinstatement and hopes her case will encourage other healthcare workers to speak out against injustice. She calls for solidarity among healthcare workers worldwide.