MAJOR performance issue after latest upgrade

We have been running the Authors plugin for a while, but a recent upgrade to the module is causing major performance issues.

WP_User::get_data_by gets called 4154 times per page load with the plugin enabled. When I disable the plugin, this gets called 30 times.

update_meta_cache gets called 4176 times per page load with the plugin enabled. When I disable the plugin, this gets called 82 times.

This major increase in calls increases page load times from 1 to 3 seconds per page load all the way up to 16 seconds per page load. Disabling this plugin reverts the performance back to 1 to 3 second mark.

Please review what changes were recently made, as they have made the module unusable.