I am pleased to add my voice to last week’s welcome for Dr. Upinder Singh, who will be the next Chair and DEO of Internal Medicine. There are a lot of noteworthy impacts worth considering with this news. Dr. Singh will be the first woman to serve as permanent chair in Internal Medicine’s nearly 160-year history and, depending on how one defines it, its second or third person of color. When she begins in October, Dr. Singh will also end the longest period in department history between permanent chairs, and she will be the first chair to step into the role from outside University of Iowa Health Care in more than two decades. Speaking as a faculty member in this department, and even understanding the unusual circumstances that contributed to this interim term, it seems clear that two and a half years is a long period to go without a permanent chair. The already-challenging task of recruitment is more difficult, and some decisions and initiatives that could not wait have had a steeper hill to climb in their implementation. That said, it has been my honor and privilege to serve as the interim chair, and I am grateful to you all for your input, your support, and your daily contributions to our missions over these last 30-plus months. We could not and did not sit still in this period and our achievements are significant, but more remains to be done. I look forward to the next three months continuing to steward the department until Dr. Singh’s arrival and to serving as a support for her during the transition period. I will have more to say later this summer about the insights and lessons that this position has given me, our achievements, and what I see as the more-than-surmountable challenges ahead. But for now, I will just say thank you.

This is an exciting time for our department as we near the end of one chapter and ready to begin the next. The search for our next department administrator is ongoing but moving closer to completion. After our recent round of onsite interviews I am confident in saying that whichever candidate takes the role, Internal Medicine will be in experienced hands. Each of them has shown strong leadership skills and innovative thinking in solving complex problems in their current and previous roles. Our thanks to the search committee and its chair, Dr. Kim Staffey, for presenting such a talented slate. Thanks also to all those who took the time to meet with the candidates and to register their thoughts for the committee to consider. Amidst these changing times and with an eye toward the future, I believe we will have much more to celebrate soon.

And speaking of celebrations, as I said in my last post, June also puts us in graduation season and the changing from one academic year to the next. The recaps and photos from each fellowship program’s celebration of their trainees will accrue as they are ready under this “Graduation 2024” tag and across our social media channels. For those graduates who are heading to new institutions or other points outside of Iowa City, I hope your last days with us are filled with appreciation for what makes this place special. We are proud of you and we thank you for the chance to play a part in your career journey. You will always have a home here at Iowa. Many return to us after exploring other opportunities only to discover nothing holds a candle to the Iowa experience, so keep in touch! I am also excited about those graduates who will be staying on at UI Health Care, either for more training or to join us as faculty. Although their reasons are as unique and as diverse as our graduates are, I think a common thread that might be found at base for each of them is how valued they feel by their peers and mentors. Our size is our strength and that allows for focused attention and the opportunity to imagine, develop, and experiment with good ideas. No one knows this better than our Chief Residents. Their farewell here and their final Grand Rounds are two bittersweet moments tempered by the fact that three of the four are staying on with us as fellows and as a faculty member.

Finally, I am sorry to have been unable to attend last night’s residency graduation celebration. This highlight reel that our communications team prepared in rapid time does give a flavor of how much fun and moving the evening was.

One of the many videos that played at the event was a pre-recorded message from me that I hope conveyed just how special you all are. You were the first class of residents to ever be recruited virtually in that worrisome and unpredictable winter of 2020-21. I think it is safe to say that though the circumstances of our first meeting may have been unusual, we still knew that each of you, even through a Zoom window, would grow into remarkable and compassionate physicians. We were right. Congratulations!