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 […]

Events this week have gotten me thinking about leadership. The most prominent event is the news that Dr. Isabella Grumbach has accepted the role of Chair of Internal Medicine at the University of Oklahoma. I am thrilled for her and for OU, who will benefit from her steady hand, her commitment to evidence-based decision-making, and […]

My plan was always to write about change this week and how I think about it. I did not anticipate the depth of potential change we would be navigating! I am grateful to Dr. Lois Geist, one of our own faculty members from the Pulmonary Division, currently serving as the university’s Interim Vice President for […]

The end of January signals the end of residency interview season, which started just about the same time I arrived on campus in October. For nearly 4 months, our Vice Chair for Education Dr. Manish Suneja and his fantastic team met virtually twice a week with graduating medical students from around the country. They met […]