Unique among the college’s honors, the Award for Friendship recognizes individuals who are not alumni for their exceptional support and dedication to the college’s missions of education, research, and service.
Frank Mitros, MD, has made contributions to the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine spanning generations of students, colleagues, and patients. His supportive, encouraging approach to teaching garnered him widespread recognition, including the University of Iowa’s Collegiate Teaching Award in 2004 and multiple Teacher of the Year honors from both medical students and pathology residents. The weekly conference he founded to bring together pathology and gastroenterology colleagues, now in its 50th year, has left an indelible mark on patient care.
Encouraged by mentor Charles Platz, MD, Mitros came to Iowa City as an associate, splitting his time between training and diagnostics. That decision led to more than three decades on the faculty and a professional focus that evolved alongside medicine itself.
Teaching soon became central to his work. His philosophy emphasized the value of encouragement and kindness.
“Some of my medical school teachers made the material feel impossibly difficult,” he says. “I wanted to do the opposite — convince students that if I could understand it, they certainly could, too.”
Mitros’ lectures blended clarity, clinical relevance, and humor. More enduring, however, was the trust he built with learners at every stage of training.
That trust is most visible in the Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology Conference, a weekly meeting Mitros founded and led for approximately 35 years. The conference emphasized clinical–pathologic correlation at a time when such interdisciplinary collaboration was far from routine. Fellows were encouraged to speak, question, and reason through uncertainty, knowing they would be supported.
“Pathologists should not live by glass alone,” Mitros often reminded trainees, referring to the glass slides used to mount specimens for the microscope. The statement underscored the importance of integrating pathology findings with clinical history and laboratory data.
Those conversations carried real stakes. Diagnoses discussed in the conference directly informed treatment decisions, sometimes involving life-altering interventions. Mitros remains a regular presence at the conference.
Mitros’ commitment to learning is also evident in his own career path. In an era before formal subspecialty fellowships in gastrointestinal and liver pathology, he immersed himself in the field, attending specialized national meetings, building professional networks, and contributing foundational scholarship.
As his expertise deepened, Mitros emerged as a nationally and internationally recognized authority in gastrointestinal and liver pathology. His work advanced early understanding of rare conditions such as familial visceral myopathy and familial hamartomatous (juvenile) polyposis. Physicians across the country sought him out as a trusted second opinion on complex cases.
Mitros served in leadership roles within the Rodger Haggitt Gastrointestinal Pathology Society and received their Harvey Goldman Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Other honors include the 2020 Hans Popper Hepatopathology Society Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ernest O. Thielen Clinical Teaching and Service Award in 2007, and the J.P. Long Award in the Basic Sciences in 2010.
Colleagues consistently describe Mitros as patient, generous, and warm. His nominators highlight the way he offered steady support in moments that mattered most.
“I think a little kindness matters,” he says. “People learn better, work better, and stay longer when they feel valued.”