The Department of Internal Medicine extends its condolences to the colleagues, friends, and family of Charles M. Helms, MD, PhD who passed away last month at the age of 83. Helms was a member of the Division of Infectious Diseases for 35 years, served as a Associate Dean in the Carver College of Medicine for four years and UIHC Chief of Staff for eight years. He received his MD and PhD degrees at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, followed by a medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and three years in the Public Health Service at the National Institutes of Health. The full obituary is available here.

An excerpt:

[Helms] was by nature curious, unselfish and pragmatic, and dedicated to patients and quality of care.  His early research papers on Legionnaire’s Disease and Toxic Shock Syndrome attracted national recognition and had impact on hospital safety and disease prevention.

In 1985-86 Dr. Helms was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship and worked with the majority staff of the US Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources on landmark vaccine policy legislation leading to establishment of the National Vaccine Program Office, the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC), and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.  His interest in these areas never waned, his advice and leadership on vaccine and public policy being sought on Federal, State and professional panels throughout his remaining academic career.  Indeed, as his career was closing, Dr. Helms received a coveted Fulbright Senior Scholarship to study implementation of a mandatory vaccination policy for healthcare workers in New South Wales, Australia at the University of Sydney in 2009.

Doctor Helms was an innovative and respected leader in the College of Medicine and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC).  He served 4 years as an Associate Dean in the College, was elected to multiple terms on the UIHC Hospital Advisory Committee, served 8 years as UIHC Chief of Staff and 10 years as Medical Director of the Office of Clinical Quality, Safety and Performance Improvement.

Comments from colleagues:

Chuck had a great (and interesting) sense of humor. He trained in Bob Chanuck’s lab at the NIH and worked on a variety of respiratory pathogens including Strep pneumo, mycoplasma and Legionella (after coming to Iowa). He enjoyed policy-related issues and worked very well in systems. Not surprisingly he served as chief of staff at UI more than once and head of the Iowa Medical Society a couple of times. During his “sabbatical” Robert Wood Johnson fellowship he was instrumental in lobbying for the national vaccine center to strengthen vaccine policies. He also did some very early and important work on Legionnaires disease. When he retired and cleaned out his office (the one I currently use), he gave me his WHO smallpox poster from the 1960s.

– Jack Stapleton, MD

Dr. Helms led the investigation into one of the first outbreaks of healthcare-associated Legionnaire’s disease and helped implement preventive measures that protected vulnerable patients. As the chief quality officer, he supported and championed infection prevention and quality improvement efforts throughout the UIHC.

– Loreen Hewaldt, MD

Chuck was a wonderful person and an extremely talented physician-epidemiologist.  I was privileged to work with him from the time I started fellowship until he retired as Chief Quality Officer.

He did a lot of important early work on the epidemiology and prevention of legionellosis, and was involved in a key multistate investigation of toxic shock syndrome that helped guide the public health response. And of course he was a leader with a long career of exemplary service to UI COM and UIHC, serving at various times as Chief of Staff and Chief Quality Officer. But most memorably, he was among the nicest, most thoughtful, and collegial people I’ve worked with during my career.

– Daniel Diekema, MD

He was brilliant and was wrapping up a highly accomplished career in academic ID at the time I got to know him. More importantly—and perhaps more exceptionally—he was a fundamentally kind, decent, and humble man.

– Michael Ohl, MD, MSPH