Get to know Internal Medicine resident Alissa Kauffman, MD, and why she decided to continue her medical education at the University of Iowa.

A new study, led by Daniel Livorsi, MD, University of Iowa assistant professor of internal medicine, suggests that antibiotics are being overused in up to 50 percent of patients undergoing common urological procedures.

UI researchers led by Sam Young, PhD, used innovative technologies to determine how the strength of information flow in the brain is controlled.

“We asked our current and past patients for their input, and their generous feedback allowed us to create this beautiful new unit that we can truly call patient-centered,” says Margarita Magalhaes-Silverman, MD, director of the UI Blood and Marrow Transplant Program.

Taking known drugs and identifying new applications for them is at the heart of a UI study published Dec. 11 showing three existing drugs, never before related to epilepsy, significantly reduced seizure-like movement in a zebrafish model of seizures.

Viewed from a few feet away, the microneedle patch in Nicole Brogden’s palm doesn’t look like a needle at all. It’s a small sliver of metal with no sharp tip. But an up-close look reveals a dozen or more rows of tiny needles—needles that deliver a painless prick when probed with a finger

Colleen Campbell, PhD, MS, CGC, recently received the Strategic Leader Award from the National Society of Genetic Counselors. The award is presented annually to one individual who has done an outstanding job of promoting the genetic counseling profession as a recognized and integral part of health care delivery, through such avenues as education, research, and public policy.

With a finding that will “rewrite neuroanatomy textbooks,” University of Iowa neurologist Aaron Boes, MD, PhD, and his colleagues show that the thalamus is not a critical part of the brain pathway involved in keeping humans awake and conscious.

Two University of Iowa scientists have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general-scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. Election as an AAAS fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

The Physician Assistant Studies program at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine will graduate 24 students in a ceremony beginning at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, in Prem Sahai Auditorium, 1110A Medical Education and Research Facility (MERF). The PA program is consistently ranked among the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report and was ranked No. 2 in the most recent survey.