The message below was sent to the Department of Internal Medicine earlier today.
I have the great pleasure to announce that David A. Stoltz, MD, PhD, has been named Director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine, effective December 1. We are grateful for the 11 years of leadership that his predecessor, Joseph Zabner, MD, dedicated to the position and for his continued service throughout this national search for his successor. I am grateful that Dr. Zabner will continue to serve as a resource for Dr. Stoltz over the next couple weeks while he transitions into the role.
Dr. Stoltz has been preparing for this position his entire career. He came to the University of Iowa and this department in 2000 for his internal medicine residency after completing an MD/PhD at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. This residency was followed by a year as Chief Resident and three years as a fellow in our Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program. Embracing all three components of the tripartite mission, Dr. Stoltz quickly established himself as a true academic physician. He took on a clinical leadership role as associate director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center and an educational one as well, first as associate director of the Physician Scientist Training Pathway and then as director since 2018. More recently he became the co-director of the NIH’s R38 StARR Scholars Program, a distinction the University of Iowa shares with only a handful of other institutions nationwide. Dozens of medical students, residents, pulmonary fellows, and postdoctoral researchers have launched successful careers in part because they received direct mentorship from Dr. Stoltz.
His trajectory as an investigator in cystic fibrosis speaks for itself. Stoltz played a critical role in the lab of Dr. Mike Welsh during the development of the first “CF pig,” a genetically modified model allowing for the rapid advancement of discovery in the treatment and diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. In the years since and in the establishment of his own research program focused on airway epithelial and smooth muscle cells, mucociliary clearance, and advanced airway imaging modalities, Dr. Stoltz has published more than 100 articles in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals. In 2019, he became the first to hold the newly endowed Pulmonary Research Professorship, director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Research Development Program, and succeeded Dr. Welsh as PI of the long-running program project grant fueling much of the CF research occurring at Iowa. In 2020, Dr. Stoltz was a named a member of the inaugural class of Distinguished Research Scholars by the Carver College of Medicine. Nationally, Dr. Stoltz is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), where he was recently appointed to a leadership role as a General Assembly Member to their Physician-Scientist Development Committee.
Dr. Stoltz has distinguished himself in his time at Iowa as more than just an accomplished researcher, educator, and clinician. He is also well-regarded as an excellent listener, someone capable of delegating, but the first to volunteer for challenging or tiring work. He seeks consensus from all stakeholders, but is imaginative enough to see creative solutions to difficult problems while still respecting the thoughts and opinions of those around him. No one walks away from a conversation with Dr. Stoltz without feeling heard. It is for all these reasons and more that we have every confidence the Pulmonary Division will remain in hands capable of preserving hard-won successes while preparing them to meet the challenges ahead. Please join me in congratulating Dr. David Stoltz on this well-deserved appointment.
