Carver College of Medicine✓

Our Distinguished Alumni Award recipients returned to campus last week to connect with fellow Hawkeyes and celebrate their impact in patient care, research, education, and service. 🙌 As the highest honor the college bestows, this award recognizes graduates who are changing medicine and changing lives.

Fall looks good on campus. 🍂

What happens when you give students the chance to spend a day in the shoes of an orthopedic surgeon? 🦴💪 The Perry Initiative brought 25 local high schoolers together with a few of our orthopedic surgeons, providers, residents, and researchers for a day of hands-on learning. The students got to try their hand at suturing, casting, and arthroscopy as they explored careers in orthopedic surgery.

For biomedical science graduate student Gavin Godwin, cancer research is personal. After losing three relatives to pancreatic cancer, the Des Moines native hopes to use scientific discovery to make a difference for Iowa families.

“If you want to be a really good physician, I think you should train for the population you're going to care for. For me, that meant staying in Iowa.” Before becoming a first-year family medicine resident, Kayla studied biomedical engineering at the University of Iowa and worked as an EMT, experiences that shaped how she thinks about problem-solving, access to care, and the needs of patients across Iowa.

RT @UIchildrens: A day of play, learning, and imagination. 🩺 Young "providers" cared for stuffed patients at the Teddy Bear Clinic with guidance from @IowaMed students and other health sciences students, helping make health care feel more familiar.

It's been an amazing Physician Associate (PA) Week! 🎉 We loved seeing our PA students celebrate their future profession!

Registration is open for Kids Go STEM on Dec. 5! 🧬🔬 This free program for students in grades 6–8 features hands-on STEM activities led by @uiowa health sciences students and professionals.

Brooke Burnett’s path to becoming a physician associate student wasn’t linear. Experiences in nutritional science, clinical research and patient care helped the Cedar Falls native discover where she belonged: caring directly for patients.

Congratulations to Colleen A. Campbell, PhD, MS, LGC, who was elected to the @GeneticsSociety Board of Directors. Dr. Campbell works to expand access to genomic and precision medicine through innovative care delivery, health policy, and rural and population health initiatives. @IntMedatIowa

Our medical students traded their classrooms for the @FamilyMuseum in Bettendorf! 🩺 At the museum’s Doctors in Training: STEAM Night, our student volunteers helped young visitors get a hands-on look at medicine through different activities, like trying on white coats. We love seeing our students share their passion for medicine and inspire the next generation of health care professionals!

Dreaming of sunnier days and Bean Ball on this rainy one. 🌧️🏐 Congratulations to Bean Learning Community on another successful Bean Ball Bonanza Volleyball tournament, which helped raise funds for the local Shelter House!

Medical student Carter Salz grew up in rural Iowa, where hard work and community shaped his path to medicine. Now a member of the Carver Rural Iowa Scholars Program, he hopes to one day serve a rural Iowa community and become a physician patients can trust.

Our west side home now ➡️ then. One thing has stayed the same after all this time: Our students, faculty, and staff are changing medicine and changing lives.

Students shared their research with faculty, peers, and the college community during this year’s Medical Student Research Conference. 🔬

Richard Smith, MD, was celebrated as the recipient of the 2026 Distinguished Mentor Award. 🎉 The award recognizes his longstanding commitment to mentorship and helping students, trainees, and colleagues find opportunities to explore, grow, and build fulfilling careers. Congratulations, Dr. Smith!

Medical student Olivia Baxter dreams of a career that allows her to serve others. “A lot of times you’re going to see your patients at their absolute worst,” she says. “I would be happy to be able to carry some of that weight for them, or for their family members.”

Residency training is a marathon — not a sprint. For Kayla Bean, MD, the path to family medicine included studying biomedical engineering, working as an EMT, and seeing firsthand the health care needs of Iowans. Now, she’s training for a career caring for the state she calls home.

For Richard Smith, MD, mentorship is about giving people the opportunity and freedom to explore. That approach has earned the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine physician-scientist and educator the 2026 Distinguished Mentor Award.

RT @scicoalition: Meet this month's Research Innovator, Dr. James Byrne, a physician-scientist at @uiowa. With the support of federal investments in basic research, Dr. Byrne is working to make cancer treatment more effective and easier to endure. @UIhealthcare @IowaMed