Karl Kreder to step down as chair of Department of Urology
Karl Kreder, MD, MBA—who has served as chair and department executive officer of the Department of Urology for 14 years—has announced plans to step down from his leadership role as soon as his successor is in place. He plans to remain on the faculty.
UI Health Care leaders will launch a national search for the next chair and DEO of the department.
“Dr. Kreder has set a high standard of excellence in the Department of Urology. He has managed to grow and advance the department across the board while also maintaining his own clinical practice and research program—which has received continuous federal funding over several decades,” says Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH, UI vice president for medical affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the Carver College of Medicine. “In many ways, the Department of Urology reflects his commitment to excellence in all aspects of our mission. As chair, he has recruited talented faculty and staff, improved clinical care capacity, expanded training opportunities for residents and fellows, and invested in the department’s research enterprise. Urology is consistently the highest medical student-ranked surgical selective—which also speaks to his high standard for quality of programs. We are so glad that he will remain on our faculty to continue his many collaborations and contributions to the field.”
Kreder joined the Department of Urology in 1992 and became department chair in 2010.
His clinical research focuses on two main areas of interest: overactive bladder/female incontinence and interstitial cystitis. Throughout his career, Kreder has been the principal investigator on eight National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants worth over $23 million in total funding. He’s also published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, written 30 book chapters, and three books.
As department chair, Kreder has:
- Increased both the clinical faculty and advanced practice provider FTE (full-time equivalent) for the department
- Expanded outreach to sites in Johnston, Bettendorf, Dubuque, Cedar Falls, Washington, and Grinnell, which has resulted in a 114% increase in urology visits
- Expanded executive leadership in the Department of Urology, adding division director positions for functional urology, pediatric urology, and urologic oncology
- Increased the residency training program from 3 to 4 resident physicians per year
- Established fellowship training programs in reconstructive urology, urologic oncology, and minimally invasive urology
- Increased philanthropy by raising funds to endow new chairs and professorships from $2.7 million to $10.7 million
- Expanded investments in the department’s research programs by establishing a recurring intramural competitive research fund
Kreder graduated from Georgetown Medical School in 1981 and spent 11 years in the U.S. Army on active duty. He remained in the Army Reserves while at Iowa until his retirement as a colonel in 2001.
In 2019, Kreder was elected to the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons—the oldest Urologic Society, established in 1873.
Patricia Winokur, MD, executive dean of the Carver College of Medicine, and Kalpaj Parekh, MBBS, professor and chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, will serve as co-chairs of the search committee for the next chair and DEO of the Department of Urology.