Immunology celebrates Lenert’s legacy

When rheumatologist Petar Lenert, MD, MSc, PhD, reflects on what brought him to UI Health Care, he has joked that he “didn’t know where Iowa was” before accepting a faculty position here. At his retirement party many years later, Lenert now insists that he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

The Division of Immunology’s administrative team organized a retirement celebration to recognize Lenert’s legacy in research, clinical care, and mentorship. Last week, division members socialized  in the Jean and Renée Robillard Atrium before gathering in a nearby classroom to express what Lenert has meant to them and hear his reflections on the life and career he built at Iowa.

For weeks leading up to the event, colleagues posted photos and personal messages for Lenert to a Kudos Board. Senior Designer/Art Director Teresa Ruggle transferred the digital content onto a poster board collage that served as an “entry point” to the celebration. Below the collage, each attendee could add handwritten messages for Lenert to a signature board.

Catering offered savory sides and beverages, but the main highlight was a chocolate sheet cake featuring an edible image of an Epang Palace microblock structure that Lenert had assembled. One of Lenert’s hobbies is constructing microblock sets of famous landmarks, and during his presentation, he shared plans to create microblock sets of the Pentacrest and other popular Iowa City locations. But before this revelation of future plans, a few of Lenert’s colleagues shared how he has influenced them both personally and professionally.

Gatr-Alnada Gheriani, MBChB, created a video displaying pictures of Lenert set to upbeat music, which played to set the tone before remarks began.

First, Division Director Benjamin Davis, MD, PhD, reflected on Lenert’s career, which “has shaped the division in ways that will last beyond [Lenert’s] time here.”

Lenert retires having published more than 100 articles, including one that has been cited more than 300 times. Davis said this research helped establish fundamental links between CpG DNA toll-like receptor signaling and autoimmune disease, reshaping the field’s understanding of innate immunity and autoimmunity.

A theme weaving each speech together was Lenert’s philosophy of “being close to patients.” His son, also a division faculty member, attested to his dad’s remarkable rapport with patients. Aleksander Lenert, MD, MS, FRCPC, shared that when he has taken on any of his dad’s former patients, they speak of his compassion and dedication to their care. “Your dad is the best doctor I’ve ever had. Your dad saved my life. Your dad helped me when no one else could,” he recalled patients telling him—then added with a laugh, “What I think they are trying to tell me is, ‘you better not screw up.’”

Lenert’s son was not the only family member in attendance. Gordana Lenert, a UI Biomolecular Sciences Specialist, was present to celebrate her husband, joined by her daughter-in-law and two of their four grandchildren.

The passion and thoughtfulness that has defined Lenert’s relationship with patients is also a hallmark of his teaching and mentorship. Gheriani shared that Lenert’s mentorship shaped not just her career path, but her confidence, thanking him for being a “steady hand, a wise voice, and a constant source of encouragement.” Her speech did not mark a farewell for the two—Lenert will remain active as a consultant in her growing vasculitis clinic. In celebration, Lenert and Gheriani raised their glasses in a toast to his retirement and legacy.

Lenert got the final word. Rather than revisiting professional accomplishments, he shared the personal journey that brought him to medicine, and eventually, to Iowa.

Lenert grew up as part of the Hungarian minority in former Yugoslavia, a detail that took on greater significance in the 1990s when the country fractured along ethnic lines. He came from a family of athletes and was himself a competitive swimmer until a mysterious illness—likely typhus from contaminated water—struck him the week before an important competition. Bedridden and without a diagnosis, this experience set him on a path to medicine.

His training in Yugoslavia directed both his career and personal life. It was where he met Gordana, his wife of 46 years, before the two made their way to Canada and eventually to their home in Iowa.

Lenert closed by thanking the colleagues and division chairs who supported him throughout his career. In retirement he looks forward to his microblock projects and travels. But most of all, Lenert looks forward to staying in Iowa, a home halfway around the world from where he began.

Acknowledgements
This event would not have been possible without the work of division administrator Danielle Allen, MBA, division coordinator Andrew Huizer, and administrative service coordinators Dylan Gardiner and Lynne Thomas