A study released last month commissioned by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) revealed that the United States is likely to face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036. In addition, this report also projected that the percentage of Americans 65 and older will increase by 34.1 percent, and those 75 and older by 54.7 percent. So, as our physician workforce decreases, the number of people who will need care is going to increase very dramatically compared to the entire American population increase of around 8 percent. We have watched this pair of waves—the decrease in physicians and the increase in aging Americans—roll toward shore for some time now, but preparations feel disproportionate to the looming impact. Medical schools have expanded their enrollment by more than 40% in the last two years, and legislation is pending to expand the number of residency slots by 14,000 over the next seven years. This is helpful, but this will not be enough, particularly if this report has underestimated demand, or if another event like, say, a viral pandemic, were to occur. We can trust that former Hawkeye cardiologist and now AAMC President and CEO Dr. David Skorton will do his part to lobby for an appropriate and achievable response at the federal level, but what can we do here at Iowa?

Even with increased enrollment in medical schools and hopefully an expansion of residency programs including our own, the physicians emerging over the next decade will be the subject of intense recruitment efforts both from academic medical centers and private providers. In any situation more data is better than less, of course, to give us an accurate sense of the challenge we face. This data should alert us to the need to be more aggressive and more focused over the next decade not just in recruiting medical school and residency graduates into the Iowa pipeline, but also when it comes to retaining our current faculty, especially junior and mid-career investigators. This is not a new concern of ours, and indeed, some new creative strategies are already being developed both in recruiting and in mentorship. We are also working closely with the college to ensure our efforts are coordinated and more effective. A sincere thanks to our Human Resources team, who are finding efficiencies in recruitment and onboarding and continually working to make sure that qualified and interested candidates stay engaged. Their professionalism ensures that someone’s first impression of Iowa is a positive one and one where they know they will be supported.

That takes care of the recruit once they have applied, but how do we get them into that application process in the first place? As I said, we are exploring some new strategies in finding new colleagues and in helping them find us, but once we connect, we will do what we have always done: tell the story of Iowa. There are many aspects of the Iowa experience we can focus on—the ease and comforts of living in the Iowa City area, the catchment of UI Health Care, the leadership and growth opportunities—and depending on the potential recruit’s interests, any handful of those kinds of elements might be right to highlight. But I think at its heart we should tell a story about our supportive environment. That support takes many forms: celebration, collaboration, infrastructure, mentorship, or even just collegiality. Here are just a few recent examples:

• Dr. Jack Stapleton, an inspiring leader with decades of service to trainees and underserved patients alike, will be honored this summer with a 2024 Regents Award for Faculty Excellence, one of the most prestigious awards given at this institution.

• He was among the 8 department members honored earlier this week for their superlative contributions to academic medical scholarship within the college.

• We celebrated our trainees and faculty who showcased their work in the realm of patient safety and quality improvement during the recent symposium.

• We also celebrated four outstanding medical students with interest in internal medicine with three annual awards that have decades of results verifying their ability to predict future success.

Each of these stories on their own is notable, but the fabric that each of these threads weaves into reveals a department that cares about the people who make it such a wonderful place to work. Individually, we can point our recruits to the stories that align with their interests and globally we can point to the entire body as evidence of our collective interest and urge to share our pride in everyone’s work and achievements as widely as we can.