Doctor fights medical board’s findings of fraud in denying him a license

A physician accused of failing to report past sanctions imposed in other states is taking the Iowa Board of Medicine to court over its refusal to issue him a license.

According to board records, Dr. Adrian Gollas of Sioux City is a physician specializing in anesthesiology who in 2023 submitted an application for a license to practice in Iowa. The board later determined that three answers Gollas provided in his application were incorrect.

Board records indicate Gollas attributes the incorrect answers to his use of a third-party professional licensing service to assist with the application process. The false answers were the result of errors and inadvertence on the part of the service, he alleges.

Board of Medicine records show the false answers were tied to questions about whether Gollas had ever been asked to repeat, or had been terminated from, an internship, residency or fellowship; whether he’d ever taken a leave of absence from medical school, a residency or a fellowship, and whether any other jurisdiction had filed disciplinary charges against him or imposed sanctions.

According to the board, Gollas was once removed from a residency program for failure to renew an expired work permit and, separately, was not allowed to continue his training for alleged performance and behavioral issues. The board alleges he also took a leave of absence at one point, and that both the Texas and New Mexico medical boards took action against him in the past for allegedly “mispresenting facts to them.”

An Iowa Board of Medicine hearing on Gollas’ application was held in June 2026, and in July 2026, the board denied Gollas a license, concluding he had committed fraud in attempting to procure an Iowa license. Prior to the hearing, Gollas allegedly indicated an Iowa medical provider — unnamed in the board’s public filings — was willing to hire him pending the approval of his license application.

Gollas recently filed a petition in Polk County District Court, seeking judicial review of the Board of Medicine’s decision, asserting the evidence does not establish that he intentionally provided false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

The petition seeks a court order reversing the board’s decision to deny Gollas a license.

The board has yet to file a response to Gollas’ petition, but in its July decision the board stated that Gollas “blaming his erroneous answers on a third-party vendor assisting him in filling out his application may explain what happened but it is not a legal defense.”

Citing what it called Gollas’ “pattern of untruthful answers” to not only the Iowa Board of Medicine but also other regulatory bodies, the Iowa board stated in its decision: “While Dr. Gollas may have a strong history of patient care and has provided much assistance to his family and community, this cannot outweigh the pattern of untruthful answers, which frankly calls into question either his honesty – which is a core trait demanded of doctors – or his ability to be attentive to details, which is also a core trait expected of doctors.”

Court records indicate Gollas’ past disciplinary issues stem from decisions at the University of Texas Health Science Center where his work performance, treatment of fellow residents, and episodes of inappropriate behavior were cited by the school as reasons for terminating his residency there.

New Mexico Medical Board records state that Gollas “later filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the University of Texas, claiming that the university retaliated against him by revoking his appointment for the third year of his residency.”

The Iowa Capital Dispatch was not able to reach Gollas for comment.