For more than two decades, the Continuing Medical Education conference Progress in Internal Medicine offered a series of workshops and seminars to connect with local regional health care professionals and showcase the best of the Department’s cutting-edge clinical care. This year, Internal Medicine collaborated with the Department of Pharmacy to reimagine Progress for a modern health care environment, one in which multi-disciplinary team approaches can mean better outcomes for patients and reduced burdens for providers.

Progress: Learning Together in the 21st Century featured clinical pearls, workshops, and hot topics in a variety of formats on five different subspecialties from both the physician’s point of view as well as the pharmacist’s: hematology and oncology, allergy and immunology, rheumatology, endocrinology and metabolism, and general internal medicine. In addition to Internal Medicine and Pharmacy, UI faculty members from the Departments of Dermatology, Psychiatry, and Surgery also participated.

Though almost all of these presenters practice medicine within an academic institution and possess the capacity to get very technical, each of them tailored his or her portion to a more generalized interest level and a broader audience. Whether it was what to expect and watch for in a patient undergoing bariatric surgery or how to properly identify dangerous melanomas, attendees at this year’s Progress got firsthand and engaging instruction from experts. Other topics included clinical pearls on pain management and palliative care, challenging cases in patients struggling with obesity and Type 2 diabetes, practical tips in ordering biologic agents for a patient or building integrated transitional care teams, and conundrums in geriatric medicine.

This year’s conference featured other innovations. Lunchtime sessions were offered on each day with a physician and a pharmacist, each reflecting on changes in their field across fifty years of work in the field. Dr. Richard Phillips even brought some eye-opening old equipment like a large-diameter bronchoscope, glass syringes, and paper boxes of needles. The morning of the second day started early with ACP Clinical Vignettes from last year’s and this year’s Iowa Chapter finalists. In fact, the American College of Physicians Iowa Chapter used the conjunction of the University of Iowa’s Homecoming weekend and this conference as the perfect time to hold their annual meeting.

A sincere thank-you to the 36 physicians, pharmacists, and nursing professionals who took the time to present at this year’s Progress. And sincere congratulations to this year’s Progress planning committee for a successful event, especially to Professor Emeritus Dr. Joel Gordon for all his hard work on this conference over the years.

Joel Gordon, MD, Course Director
Kate Gaspar, PharmD
Ryan Jacobsen, PharmD
Melinda Johnson, MD
Laurie Lyckholm, MD
Shane Madsen, PharmD
Deanna McDanel, PharmD
Jennifer Moulton, RPh
Amal Rahhal, MD
Kevin Schleich, PharmD
Scott Vogelgesang, MD