The other side of a presidential election is a bit like recovering from a long fever. Even now, ten days later, this last one both feels still present and already distant. I recognize that there are strong feelings associated with the outcome and that it can be challenging to talk about. That challenge and its importance make me want to talk about it more. What else could be a good use of this space? I know that opining about the results or what might happen next is not my area of expertise, but I do want to share a couple thoughts that I believe are relevant to our roles here.
Every election there are always ramifications on our core missions: clinical care, teaching, and research. And as citizens we all have a civic and social responsibility, although each of us gets to decide how much or how little we engage in that work. Regardless of engagement levels or causes, what we each choose to do individually as private and free citizens continues to remain up to us. Each of you is educated and passionate; your expertise can influence issues that matter to you in positive ways. And I hope you do this work. Your community needs you.
But it falls to me to remind you that there are borders around how this work must be performed. Please familiarize yourself with those policies to protect yourself, the institution, and the causes that matter to you. Work on political activities should be done on personal time, separate from our actions and identities as employees of a state-funded institution. That link explains the university’s expectations for faculty and this one explains guidelines on political activity for staff.
Photo for reflection
There’s something appropriate about the proximity of Election Day to Veterans Day, and I am profoundly grateful for the sacrifice that so many make to our Armed Services, defending a community that means so much to them. I am also grateful for our proximity here to the Iowa City VA Health Care System that gives us a chance to repay these men and women for their service to us through direct clinical care. The VA also affords us the chance to conduct cutting-edge research in improving the way in which we deliver that care to them and to others, another act of service. This photo at left brings up a lot of thoughts for me about what it means to love this country. Whether we were born here or arrived here sometime after our birth, what binds us as Americans is our identification with a set of principles and freedoms rather than an ethnicity. Sometimes we fulfill those principles, sometimes we miss the mark, but we keep working toward them, our shared civic project.
Upi’s “Oh WOW” Moment
We are all members of many different communities, but I am quickly coming to understand just how special the Internal Medicine community is. When I met Dr. Paul Rothman at Homecoming last month, I learned how much this department can continue to matter to a former chair. Last week, at an event for Dr. Isabella Grumbach, I got to see how much a chair matters to our department. Dozens of faculty members and staff took time out of their Thursday afternoon to catch up with our former interim chair and to thank her. Many signed a framed collage of photos from her years of service in the role and posed with her for a couple more. Some of those photos can be seen here.
Finally
This idea of communities benefiting from our membership and us as individuals benefiting from being part of something larger is an important one. One I want to keep thinking about and talking more about here. Illustrations of what I mean might be the best place to begin. Here are three examples just within the realm of cancer:
- The Stead Family has long been committed to advancing the academic medical community through philanthropy. One of our own, Dr. Rebecca Dodd, will build on her work in cancer research as one of three 2024 Stead Family Early Career Scholars.
- Dr. Loreen Herwaldt is part of an interdisciplinary community that was awarded a pilot grant from the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center to better understand the needs of people diagnosed with breast cancer while they wait to begin treatment.
- Finding ways to bring experimental treatments to more Iowans in our state community takes innovative thinking like that being shown by Dr. Christopher Strouse.
As always, thanks to each of you for keeping our community in the department and within UI Health Care a supportive and welcoming place, no matter what changes come next. This should be our mission each and every year and with each election.
I took this photo below when I was landing this week in Washington, DC. It made me think about reflecting, learning, and leading. I hope you will all do the same and help in the journey to move our department forward.
