The Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine braved a busy downtown Iowa City to gather on the second floor of the Hotel Vetro. While the rest of the neighborhood was celebrating the annual Arts Fest, the division was celebrating their four most recent pulmonary and critical care fellowship graduates: Desmond Barber, MD, MME; Sydney Bowmaster, MD; Justin Holmes, MD, MME; and Yana Zemkova, MD.

Members made good use of the hour before dinner in conversation and meeting graduates’ family and friends who were also in attendance.

In division tradition, after an introduction and welcome from David Stoltz, MD, PhD, emcee duties fell to Alicia Gerke, MD, fellowship program director, who led attendees through additional division achievements. She listed significant grant wins and other honors, as well as important milestone events like families who welcomed new additions.

In another tradition, Spyridon Fortis, MD, presented the Sleep Medicine award to Holmes, the graduating fellow who completed his required hours and paperwork before his colleagues. This year’s award took the form of a statue of Hypnos, the mythical ancient Greek god of sleep. Gerke presented the fellows-chosen Teacher of the Year award to Charles Rappaport, MD, himself a relatively recent graduate of the fellowship program.

Gerke then turned to this year’s graduates. Supplied with photos and anecdotes solicited from family, she wove their biography before coming to Iowa in with their achievements while here. Each was also asked what they wanted to be remembered for and, in some cases humorously, what they will be remembered for. The fellows, their families and mentors during their training were invited up to pose for a group photo.

During the last presentation, Gerke revealed the detail that Holmes was known in his family for outfitting family vacations with matching T-shirts to commemorate the trip. Inspired, she and Nicole Strand, fellowship program coordinator, prepared T-shirts with identifiers on the back to commemorate this class’s graduation. After this, the fellows were invited to say a few words of thanks. Ranging from their co-fellows to mentors to family and friends, they each expressed heartfelt gratitude for the unforgettable support they received.

And in a common tradition, the evening closed with a few more group photos.