Another amazing Match in the books. All year long, our residency program works hard to ensure a Friday like last week happens every year. Let’s acknowledge first that we filled all our open slots. We never want to take that very basic of tasks for granted. That most important step is critical not only to the future of our program but to the strength of University of Iowa Health Care. Our department meets its obligations to the institution and to the state of Iowa year after year. But we do more than fill our slots, we recruit the very best from every corner of the country. So before I say anything else, I want to extend congratulations and thanks to Dr. Manish Suneja and his phenomenal team on finding the cream of our nation’s medical school crop. There are many headwinds attempting to slow our department down, but the reputation and resilience of our residency program is a strong counter-wind. To everyone involved, from trainee to attending, from administrator to APD, thank you for being a dependable foundation for our department.

We shared some initial data last week on these incoming residents, but the number that jumped out at me is 65%, the highest complement of women in an intern class in our program history. As large as that number may seem to the more senior among us, it is right in line with national trends. The AAMC reported of last year’s 21,590 medical school graduates, 11,859 were women, or a little less than 65 percent. Of course, the rate of practicing women MDs in the United States today is around 38 percent of the total, so there is still some ground to make up. The other numbers I am thrilled by are the numbers shared by the Carver College of Medicine about their graduating class entering residency. Of the 144 graduates, 33 will stay at UI Health Care, more than half will enter primary care training, which is so desperately needed nationwide, and 28 will enter internal medicine training, the top specialty of choice for our graduates. It must be said how well this reflects on the experience our medical students get while training with our department’s instructors. Clerkships, both outpatient and in-, our sub-internship, and the countless hours of small group teaching all play a part. Their experiences with you add up to a positive whole that shows them internal medicine is a viable path and one they can feel passionate about. Thank you for giving them that experience.

Photo for reflection
This is an African daisy, just about to hit full bloom in early spring, just like our budding new doctors. There is a comfort in these milestones, year after year, these traditions that ground us. Whether it is Match Day or spring holidays or the graduations that are just around the corner for all our trainees, including our outstanding fellows, these cycles are a comfort. With so much change and uncertainty, having these dates on the calendar to look forward to and rely on, remind us that there is still plenty under our control. We get to step into our communities and know that our colleagues and our friends, who all have burdens similar to our own, are there to celebrate with us. We mark these important moments not just to congratulate our trainees on their achievements but to re-cement the knowledge that we are all in this together, that we have all been through this together, and can face what comes next. Cycles, patterns, traditions, seasons, they matter.

Upi’s “Oh, WOW” moments
Speaking of community, I am always excited to see how colleagues in our department support each other in big and small ways. The March Honor Roll has the always noteworthy shout-outs to instructors and administrators, residents and fellows, but I liked seeing recognitions for entire teams this month. The Ryan White Program has delivered total patient care to people diagnosed with HIV for many, many years. The MCD intensive care unit is a much newer setting for our clinicians, but they have done more than keep the unit afloat; they have grown it into a thriving location with the same level of excellence patients can expect on the university campus. Well done!

I would also like to shout-out three recent awards received by our faculty members. First, the Alice Hamilton Award for Excellence in Occupational Medicine to Dr. Claudia Corwin, who has worked to transform access to care for seasonal and migrant farmworkers and workers right here within our own system. Second, the Ernest O. Theilen Clinical Teaching and Service Award has been won by Internal Medicine faculty five times in the last ten years. The latest honoree is Dr. Joseph Dillon, a leader of the only NET SPORE grant in the United States, treating neuroendocrine tumors in our cancer center. And, last but not least, Pulmonary Division Director Dr. David Stoltz was recognized recently with the “Hero of Hope” award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a strong partner in our department’s long history with this disease. Congratulations, all!