Welcome to the Iowa Research Network (IRENE). IRENE, a practice-based research network (PBRN), was established in 2001 through the joint efforts of the members of the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians (IAFP), the University of Iowa Department of Family Medicine, and the IAFP Foundation (Family Health Foundation of Iowa) under the leadership of Paul James, MD. The current director is Korey Kennelty, PharmD, MS, PhD, BCGP. The work of IRENE depends on a close collaboration of community-based primary care physicians and academic primary care physicians at the University of Iowa. IRENE’s current membership includes 310 physicians in 188 offices in 75 of Iowa’s 99 counties. 

The mission of IRENE is to create new knowledge and improve clinical practice, especially in rural communities. It will accomplish its mission through the systematic evaluation of current practice and identification of the contributors to practice behaviors, using the expertise of primary care providers, and through its linkage to a research oriented academic health center. IRENE is particularly suited to studies that assess the generalizability of interventions to primary care practice and rural communities.

Contact Us

Korey Kennelty, PharmD, MS, PhD, BCGP

IRENE Director 
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics 
Department of Family Medicine 
200 Hawkins Drive
Iowa City, IA 52242 
Phone: 1-319-335-8862
E-mail: irene@uiowa.edu​

Stephanie Bunt, PhD

IRENE Associate Director 
Vice Chair for Research & Scholarship 
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics 
Department of Family Medicine 
200 Hawkins Drive
Iowa City, IA 52242 
Phone: 1-402-547-8886
E-mail: stephanie-bunt@uiowa.edu