Because the Department of Internal Medicine at UI Health Care recognizes that the only constant in medicine is change, part of its mission is communicating new discovery to peer clinicians throughout the region. For decades, medical professionals have gathered to explain and explore updates in diagnosis and treatment in one of our oldest continuing medical education programs, the Progress conference.

Progress has served as a cornerstone in continuing education, but always in Iowa City. For the first time, conference organizers relocated Progress in Des Moines, in an attempt to expand its audience. The Hilton Garden Inn in West Des Moines hosted the conference earlier this month. Medical experts and trainees joined for an inter-professional program that combines Internal Medicine and Pharmacy. Attendees engaged in plenary lectures, breakout sessions, and timely “hot topic” discussions.

Throughout engaging cross-disciplinary lectures and competitive sessions, professionals could update their continuing medical education requirements. The event kicked off with a continental breakfast and credit announcements before transitioning into the first day of lectures.

Oct. 9 presenters and topics included:

Lemuel Benedict Non, MD
Practical Tips for Using Generative AI in Everyday Clinical Practice

John Swegle, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP
GLP-Agonists: What’s New

Emily Walsh, PharmD, BCACP
Sarah Shaffer, DO, MME, FACOG, MSCP
Menopause: So Hot Right Now…

Elizabeth Bowen, MD
Osteoporosis: Diagnosis, Treatment and the Role of Lifestyle Modifications

John Swegle, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP
Katherine White, MD, MME, FACP
GLP-1 RA Medications for Obesity Management

Daniel J Livorsi, MD
Patrick M Kinn, PharmD
Challenging Dogma: Treating Common Infections in Hospitalized Patients

Morgan Herring, PharmD, BCPS, FAPhA
Emily Beckett, PharmD, BCPS
The ABCs of CGMs: From Ordering to Clinical Interpretation 

Christian E Anderson, MD PhD
Cardiology for the Hospitalist

During lunch, the Iowa Chapter of the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) hosted a competitive poster session in which trainees presented hospital-medicine abstracts. In addition to a cash prize, the winner also received a free registration to the national SHM meeting in Nashville in the spring.

Later during the day, internal medicine residents from programs across the state competed in the Iowa Chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP) Clinical Vignette session. Each trainee had previously been selected from a competition at their respective program, similar to Iowa’s. Spectators gathered to support and learn from the residents’ unique patient scenarios and strategic interventions.

Following the first day’s presentations, the ACP chapter meeting took advantage of the members who had come for Progress. Among the evening’s events, the chapter members honored Iowa alum and former faculty member Rachael Dirksen, MD, with an ACP Laureate Award. Those in attendance also enjoyed a lively Doctors Dilemma competition from trainees and laughed together at a Story Slam focusing on “Blunders.” 

Though the second day of Progress was briefer than the first, the quality and applicability of the presentations were just as high:

Laura Czerniak, PharmD
Ernesto Ruiz Duque, MD
Updates: Heart Failure Guideline Directed Medical Therapy

Aaron Scherer, PhD
Communicating with Patients Where They Are, Not Where You Want Them to Be

Ben Miskle, PharmD
Brigid Adviento, MD MPH
Initiation and Management of Buprenorphine in Hospitalized Patients with Opioid Use Disorder

William A Zeitler, MD
Checkpoint Inhibitors — Consideration for Providers Working with Patients with Cancer

Tom Mouser Jr., MD
Fighting For “Living” With Serious Illness: Swinging Back with Pharmacology

Lee Kral, PharmD, FASHP, NBC-HWC, CPMC
The Role of Opioids in 2025

Pharmacy and Internal Medicine leaders will reunite for this conference again in 2026 to discuss cross-disciplinary clinical and investigative progress. Though next year the event will return to Iowa City, conference co-directors Joseph Szot, MD, and Ryan Jacobsen, PharmD, say they plan to alternate between the two cities each year.