Four UI Health Care Internal Medicine faculty members received 2025 VA Provider Awards at the Iowa City VA Health Care System’s (ICVAHCS) annual all-provider meeting. Below is the detailed announcement from Brad Dixon, MD, Chief of Medical Service at the ICVAHCS about the winning Internal Medicine members.

Brian Olshansky, MD
Chief of Staff Award for Clinical Care and Service and
Spec Med & COS Clinical Care and Service Award

Dr. Olshansky, an ICVA cardiologist & electrophysiologist, is widely recognized for his extraordinary clinical care, particularly in the management of the most complex cardiology and electrophysiology patients. Having authored far more than 300 publications on electrophysiology, he is internationally recognized as one of the leading electrophysiologists in the world and often invited to share his expertise with others at international conferences. At the Iowa City VA, he is frequently consulted by other staff and trainees on the most challenging cases. Several veterans have written letters of gratitude and commendation for the care he has provided. A recent patient wrote: “Doc, not only are you a genius, you are a compassionate and caring man! A regular down to Earth guy, who just happens to be the best electrophysiologist on Plant Earth. And you are so Kind and always answer all my questions and genuinely care…” Dr. Olshansky’s expertise extends well beyond the VA system—patients are regularly referred to him from across the country, including from prestigious centers such as Mayo and Cleveland Clinic, after others have been unable to solve their problems. Despite his international reputation as a leader in electrophysiology, he remains deeply committed to delivering compassionate, high-quality care to veterans in Iowa City. In addition, he is a devoted teacher and mentor to students, residents, and fellows, who benefit greatly from his vast experience and patient-centered approach. His dedication to service, clinical excellence, and education make him a truly outstanding candidate for the Clinical Care/Service Award.

Spec Med Teaching Award: Melissa Swee, MD

Dr. Melissa Swee, a nephrologist at the ICVA, demonstrates excellence in teaching: 1) at the bedside, as evidenced by her glowing teaching evaluations, 2) through her successful leadership as Program Director of the VA Quality Scholars (VAQS), an advanced fellowship sponsored by the Office of Academic Affiliations at the Iowa City VA, and 3) as a mentor for younger colleagues and trainees across multiple disciplines in nephrology and internal medicine. In her role as a general nephrologist, transplant nephrologist, and internist at the Iowa City VA, Dr. Swee is dedicated to teaching through bedside and clinic-based instruction.  Dr Swee consistently garners 5/5 evaluations for her clinical teaching. Resident comments include: “Thank you for taking the time to teach us independently from the patients. I enjoyed the daily multiple choice questions. It really made me want to learn more not only about my patients, but also… when I went home.” “…Professional and kind. Great interactions with medical students and residents…. Extremely intelligent …” “…I always enjoyed working with her…” In addition, her teaching as the VAQS Program Director includes notable lectures such as the Modified Delphi Method and ‘Before Measurement Begins,’ the latter based on her authored chapter in Practical Measurement for Health Care Improvement, endorsed by Joint Commission Resources. She also mentors Rural Scholars fellows, a program dedicated to retaining rural providers while developing their skills in quality improvement and leadership, both in Iowa and across the country. Under her guidance, fellows have led impactful projects such as reducing alert burden for primary care clinicians, improving frailty screening in surgical clinics, enhancing pharmacogenetic testing for depression, and strengthening alcohol misuse screening with Audit-C. This past year, her fellows delivered two oral abstracts and several posters at the VA Quality Scholars Summer Institute, in addition to presentations at national conferences. In her role as a mentor, this past year, she collaborated intensively with two fellows to publish case reports based on patients they cared for together; both manuscripts are now under journal review. She consistently earns strong evaluations for her approachable teaching style, clinical expertise, and ability to integrate learners into complex, real-world patient care. Comments from her mentees include: “I am particularly impressed by her calm, attentive, and approachable demeanor as an educator. Furthermore, she consistently encourages me to pursue grant funding opportunities and to take the lead in writing scientific manuscripts. She also leads by example,…” Her commitment to education has also been recognized beyond the VA. She was honored as Teacher of the Year in the University of Iowa’s Division of Nephrology, underscoring her outstanding impact on trainees across multiple settings. In short, Dr Swee is a very talented and immensely deserving of the Spec Med SL Teacher of the Year Award.

Spec Med System Change and Innovation Award: Eiyu Matsumoto, MD

After completing his Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Disease fellowship training at the University Iowa in 2013, Dr. Matsumoto joined our VA medical staff as an Emergency Department Physician. He quickly established himself as a physician leader and was promoted to ICVA ED Director in 2018. Since then, Eiyu has demonstrated a sustained and impressive track record of successful high-impact system changes and innovations at the Iowa City VA including: ED patient flow, Geriatric ED certification, tele-stroke care, suicide screening and risk assessment, emergency COVID-19 care, and sepsis screening. Due to Dr. Matsumoto’s efforts the Iowa City VA Emergency Department consistently ranks among the top 10% of VA ED’s nationally in ED patient flow and suicide screening. Furthermore, his recent efforts in leading the clinical implementation of our sepsis screening protocol and early sepsis care in the ED have resulted in dramatic measurable improvements over a short period. Lastly, Eiyu serves at the VISN level as a leader in the Emergency Medicine ICC, which serves to diffuse our innovations to other VAs and bring new best practices to Iowa City. There is no doubt that Dr. Matsumoto’s contributions to system change, and innovation have improved the delivery and quality of care our veterans received at the Iowa City VA Emergency Department and he is truly deserving of the Spec Med SL Innovation and System Change Award.

Spec Med Sustained Contribution Award: Bharat Kumar, MD

Dr. Bharat Kumar, Section Chief and Fellowship Program Director for Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology has been a shining and sustained role model within the Iowa City VA Health Care System for systems change and innovation. He has a well-earned reputation as a leader who works hard to advance our institution’s reputation as a leader in innovation and early adoption of new technologies. Most notably, over the past year, as the Immunology Section Chief, he has dramatically increased access to care for Veterans with allergic, immunologic, and rheumatologic conditions. In past work, he systemically studied and published on IC veterans’ needs and best practices for the “After Visit Summary” given to patients to remind them of the visit recommendations and plans for follow-up. More recently, he has developed and implemented tele-rheumatology and tele-allergy services. This has resulted in wait times for first available new consult spots being reduced from 5 months to less than one month. Additionally, he has worked hard on implementing accelerated allergen immunotherapy schedules to improve Veteran satisfaction and reduce the need for Veterans to seek community care allergists. Under his leadership, rheumatology clinics have also integrated point of care ultrasonography to advance diagnosis and management of complex conditions. To promote sustainability, Dr. Kumar has championed appropriate resource use and documentation within the section to increase reimbursement for services, such as the g2211 add-on codes. Finally, he has promoted positive changes in the culture of the interprofessional team in line with the VA’s goal of being a high reliability organization (HRO).  He effectively employs the principles of Appreciative Inquiry to meaningfully champion the five HRO principles and foster a sense of purpose in serving Veterans. For all of these productive and sustained contributions to the ICVA, Dr Kumar is the Spec Med SL nominee for the Sustained Contribution Award.