The following is a message from Isabella Grumbach, MD, PhD, Interim Chair and DEO of Internal Medicine, sent to the department last week.

It is my responsibility to share that Denise Zang, MBA, FACMPE, our Clinical Department Administrator (CDA), will retire from her role, effective March 8. For more than four years, she has advanced our missions and navigated some of the toughest challenges this department has ever faced. At every turn she has distinguished herself with selfless dedication to our missions. Even before she joined us, she had honed her acumen in the effective delivery of health care at other organizations around the Midwest. She showed leadership and innovative thinking in helping guide the cardiovascular division at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health for more than a decade before making the move to Iowa.

Within a month of her arrival in our department in February 2020, almost everything she thought she would be doing in the job changed. The COVID-19 pandemic required a level of creativity, flexibility, and courage from all of us and Denise helped guide our department through it. She cleared paths, advocated for our priorities with college and hospital leadership, and kept the lines of communication open so that no good ideas went unconsidered. Because of her leadership and the example she provided, our department was able to stay nimble and thrive at a time when many other health care systems shrank from the challenge. She helped steer us through all this while still being brand-new in her role, learning a set of ropes that no one had ever seen before.

As the worst of the crisis receded, the next challenge for her appeared in late 2021, with the departure of our former chair. In my first months as Interim Chair, I valued Denise’s advice and her understanding of our department’s financial situation and its challenges in our immediate and long-term future. She was instrumental in guiding the work of our department’s administrative team through numerous projects, including the restructuring of the HR group, the creation of the staff engagement and action committee, and the implementation of the compensation model.

Please join me in extending a thank you to Denise for all her contributions to our department and UI Health Care.

As we begin a search for a new CDA, Kristin Goedken, MBA, will assume interim administrative leadership of the Department of Internal Medicine. Kristin, of course, brings a tremendous depth of experience as our current Associate CDA and with many years before that as Division Administrator for many of our divisions, including General Internal Medicine. Most recently, she has been instrumental in facilitating our new relationship with Mercy Iowa City, our new Downtown Campus. Kristin’s appointment as Interim CDA ensures that our department’s good work and growth continues while a search for our next permanent CDA is ongoing. Please join me in extending a thank you to Kristin as well.