Alumni notes: Spring 2025
Monday, April 21, 2025
Preserving and restoring quality of life
Monday, April 21, 2025
Steven Hudak (04MD), FACS, a reconstructive urologist who serves as the urology residency program director at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas, often tells trainees that when he started medical school, he had almost no familiarity with urology, much less reconstructive urology.
Caring for her community
Monday, April 21, 2025
Wanakee Carr (14MD) grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. From a young age, her parents taught her to see her education as a means by which she could be a support to her community. Carr now fulfills that role practicing obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) in Des Moines—work that she didn’t expect would become her calling when she first started medical school.
Alumna Q&A: Mgbechi Ugonna Erondu (17MD)
Monday, April 7, 2025
Mgbechi Erondu, MD, MFA, serves as a clinical assistant professor in Stanford Medicine’s Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine. A pediatric palliative care specialist, Erondu simultaneously completed a Master of Fine Arts at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop during her medical training at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. We caught up with her to reflect on her career as a physician-writer.
Humanities and the art of medicine
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By supporting scholarship in ethics and the arts, the UI Carver College of Medicine’s Humanities Distinction Track gives medical students space to explore the artistic and philosophical side of medicine during medical training. Students have completed projects ranging from novels, memoirs, and poetry collections to scholarly writing, photography, and more in search of a deeper understanding of medicine.
Carr provides care for community where she was born
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
University of Iowa medicine alum Wanakee Carr finds meaning in the care she provides as a doctor practicing obstetrics and gynecology in the Des Moines area. She describes helping bring a new child into the world as “such a beautiful experience.”
Not your traditional teacher: How this PA educator is making a lasting impact
Friday, February 7, 2025
For Marc Doobay, MPAS, PA-C, the road to a career as a physician assistant (PA) and becoming a passionate educator and advocate for the field isn’t one’s usual path. Initially pursuing a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, he soon realized his true calling lay in the PA profession—a choice driven by his desire for balance and a connection to the patient-centered, team-based care model.
Q&A with Radiation Sciences alumna Samantha Nguyen
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Little-known fact: In addition to graduate programs in medicine, physician assistant studies, and biomedical sciences, the UI Carver College of Medicine offers undergraduate degrees in radiation sciences and nuclear medicine technology. We chatted with Samantha Nguyen, a first-generation student who earned a Bachelor of Sciences in Radiation Sciences at the University of Iowa, about her career path and what her day-to-day looks like now.
The meaning of service
Thursday, October 31, 2024
For some medical students, the calling to serve others is not just the foundation for their careers—it’s their guiding star. The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine’s Service Distinction Track exists to help these students gain experience working with medically underserved, marginalized, and rural populations during medical school and inform them on important topics related to service-oriented health careers.
The quiet pleasures of a career in rural medicine
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Carver College of Medicine grad Kyle Glienke reflects on his calling to rural and agricultural medicine and his place in Storm Lake, Iowa — the community he loves.
Iowa City Mini Medical School - Collaboration is Power: The Future of Cancer Clinical Trials in Iowa
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 5:15pm to 7:30pm
Iowa has the second-highest and fastest-growing rate of cancer in the nation. What are cancer providers and experts doing to turn the tides? Join us for an interactive Mini Medical School Program to find out.Clinical trials offer hope to patients and families affected by cancer. By participating in trials, patients can access cutting-edge treatments that could be the future standard of care. But accessing these treatments requires doctors to work together with cancer researchers to identify...
2025 Iowa Medicine Alumni Reunion Weekend & Homecoming
Friday, September 26, 2025 3:00pm to 8:00pm
Tentative event schedule. Subject to change as event date nears.Friday, Sept. 26 - $25 ticket price3 p.m. Welcome Reception and Toast to the 50th ClassBig Grove Brewery, Iowa City, Iowa5:45 p.m. Homecoming ParadeDowntown Iowa CityParade float reserved for the 50th reunion class. Other reunion attendees invited to walk in the parade.Saturday, Sept. 27 - Free to attend, RSVP needed8 a.m. Alumni and Friends TailgateMedical Education and Research Facility, Iowa City, IowaUpdates from college...