The following lightly edited report was submitted by Poorani Sekar, MD, clinical associate professor in Infectious Diseases. 

This year, we had the pleasure of celebrating our graduating fellows at Tin Roost in North Liberty. On a beautiful June evening, we gathered in a  private room at the restaurant, which was elegantly set up with food and drinks. Interim Division Director Judy Streit, MD, added a personal touch with fresh-cut flowers adorning each table and congratulatory balloons to enhance the festive atmosphere.

Our graduating fellows this year are Renate Wright, DO; Shinya Hasegawa, MD; and Arya Zandvakili, MD, PhD. The evening began with drinks and lively conversation, as faculty, administrators, and their families joined in the celebration. Dinner was served buffet-style, featuring a beautiful charcuterie board, Greek salad, pulled pork sandwiches, chicken burritos, salmon with Brussels sprouts, vegetarian chow mein, fresh fruit, and assorted desserts.

Over dinner, engaging discussions continued, offering an opportunity to step away from infectious diseases and enjoy broader conversations. Meanwhile, the children socialized and played outdoors at a nearby playground.

One of the highlights of the evening was Dr. Streit’s traditional presentation, thoughtfully curated with childhood photos and anecdotes from the fellows’ families. Seeing photos of our fellows as children brought warmth and laughter to the room.

Next was a friendly faculty trivia game, designed to test how well our attending physicians knew the fellows. The teams consisted of Poorani Sekar, MD; Jacob Hodges, MD; and Loreen Herwaldt, MD, on one side, competing against Jin Prasidthrathsint, MD; Jason Barker, MD; and Quanhathai Kaewpoowat, MD. Using their well-honed clinical reasoning skills, they tackled multiple-choice questions about the fellows—yielding some surprising and entertaining revelations!

We learned that:

• Arya showcased breakdancing skills in his high school talent show and once aspired to be either a mathematician or a comedian.

• Renate, an avid bird lover, has always kept birds as pets—despite knowing about psittacosis as an infectious disease specialist! She is also fluent in three additional languages beyond English.

• Shinya once had two pet chipmunks and mastered multiplication tables at the age of three.

The faculty shared heartfelt reflections on their fondest memories of the fellows and extended their best wishes.

• Dr. Jin recalled how she and Arya tackled 10 new consults together with no additional team members in a single day on the general ID service.

• Dr. Quan spoke about how patients on the virology panel deeply valued the fellows, expressing sadness at their departure. She noted, “When they said that, we knew we had done our job well.”

• Dr. Sekar shared how one of her and Arya’s mutual patients insisted on running all Dr. Sekar’s treatment plans by Arya, demonstrating her immense trust in him.

• Dr. Carvour, the fellows’ career mentor, shared that students and residents appreciated Renate’s exceptional teaching, often noting that she made learning fun.

• Dr. Streit commended Shinya’s dedication, highlighting how he was always hard at work reviewing charts in the early morning hours and late at night.

• Drs. Hodges, Molano, and Appenheimer expressed gratitude for the opportunity to teach, collaborate with, and learn from the fellows, wishing them success in their future endeavors.

To conclude the evening, the division presented the fellows with tokens of appreciation, followed by professional photos taken by Michihiko Goto, MD, MSCI, to commemorate the occasion.

As the celebration came to an end, attendees enjoyed more drinks and conversation, reflecting on the impact the fellows had during their training.

Looking ahead:

• Dr. Wright will be joining Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, IN, as a Staff Physician.
• Dr. Zandvakili will remain as a research fellow, focusing on the transcriptional regulation of CMV in the Meier Lab.
• Dr. Hasegawa will continue as a research fellow, working on health services research at the VA.

Thank you to Dr. Streit, Stephanie Cecil and Taylor Edwards for organizing this event. We are incredibly proud of our graduates and grateful that they chose our program for their training. We wish them the very best in their future endeavors.