This year’s July 1 marked more than just the arrival of new interns and fellows; it also marked the establishment of three new roles in the department’s leadership. Josalyn Cho, MD, and Martha Carvour, MD, PhD, have officially begun their work as Vice Chair for Professional Development and Vice Chair for Quality and Safety, respectively. […]

Happy Fourth of July! I hope that for those of you with the day off that you eat an extra item from the grill for your colleagues working on one of our campuses delivering care. Thank you to those who sacrificed time with family and friends so your co-workers can have more time with theirs […]

June is that time for transitions. It may feel like we are in a month of saying good-byes, as some of our residency and fellowship graduates head out for new adventures. We prefer that our trainees stay with us for as long as possible, join our faculty, and pass on to the next generation what […]

I said in my last post that I would have more to say about the importance of our education mission, especially as it gets so much focus at the end of an academic year. In some ways last month’s medical school graduation was the appetizer to the main course of our residency and fellowship graduations […]

Monday is Memorial Day, what many consider the start of the summer season. I’m thrilled to experience my first Iowa summer. Everyone tells me that summer is the reward for winter, which sets the bar pretty high! I think their predictions will bear out, though, based on what I have seen so far of spring. […]

This weekend, many in the United States will celebrate Mother’s Day. For those lucky enough to spend time or talk with their moms, I hope it’s a lovely day. And for those who will be missing their moms (as I will be), I hope you connect with family or friends and find comfort in the […]

Let’s talk about the work being done by the department’s leadership team: the central office, Vice and Associate Chairs, Division Directors and Division Administrators. In reflecting on this, I landed on the metaphor of a house. We want to consider what efforts are visible and easily noted (the exterior of the house) and what work […]

The Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM) is one of the largest professional organizations in academic medicine, comprising faculty clinicians, chairs, administrators, division directors, and educators. AAIM’s annual meeting in New Orleans just wrapped up, and I was fortunate to represent Iowa for the first time. One of the things that hit me very quickly […]

I learned an Iowa-weather-related phrase earlier this month: “Spring of Deception”! Despite the scary-sounding name, I’m choosing to look at that recent brief stretch of 70-plus-degree weather as less of a trick and more of an appetizer before the main course. Even just a couple days of springtime weather has gotten me thinking about my […]

I am not a sociologist or even a psychologist, but I think an outsider’s perspective can sometimes be helpful. I started to talk about this a bit last week during my quarterly update at Grand Rounds, but I think it’s worth examining this concept of “Iowa nice.” There is no doubt that Iowans are some […]