Sunday night, while most of the community took a break from shoveling to warm themselves by a fire, the members of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine warmed themselves with some company and good cheer.

The division’s annual holiday gathering went a little farther away from downtown Iowa City than they did last year. But they kept their eye for novel locations, booking the second or third private event ever hosted by Barrett’s All Day, a relatively new cafe and bakery just a stone’s throw from the coming UI Health Care location in North Liberty.

Division members spent time sampling the sandwiches, spreads, and desserts–including a King Cake baked by Division Director David Stoltz, MD, PhD. Attendees caught up with one another after a busy holiday season and New Year’s, telling tales of travels—some as far as Ireland and Israel—or comparing notes on the best snow removal strategies that preserve one’s lower back.

But they had also gathered for an important finale to a week-long contest. As part of the American Lung Association’s (ALA) nationwide fund-raiser, Smash the Stats, the division solicited nominations for three candidates to catch a pie in the face. The goal is to help the ALA positively impact (or “smash”) statistics like lung cancer mortality rates in children, the 10 million missed school days annually because of asthma, and that 1 in 3 adult Americans currently lives amid unhealthy levels of air pollution.

A site for the three nominated candidates was created and the division voted with their dollars on who should get “pie’d.” Ninety cents of every one of the $2700 they raised will fuel ALA’s research, education, and advocacy activities. But what it did not fund was the can of Reddi-Wip that filled the pie tin that ended up in the face of Tom Gross, MD.

Watch, as Gross explains, while wearing a rain coat and standing on a protective floor covering:

The evening’s entertainment past, guests continued to chat and snack before venturing back out into the cold and snowy evening, still warmed by each other’s company.