University of Iowa Health Care faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend an investiture ceremony honoring Kathleen Sluka, PT, PhD; Christopher Petkov, PhD; and Seth Tomchik, PhD, at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, in Prem Sahai Auditorium in the Medical Education and Research Facility (MERF).
Kathleen Sluka, PT, PhD
Kathleen Sluka, PT, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science. Sluka’s translational research program focuses on the neurobiology of musculoskeletal pain as well as the mechanisms and effectiveness of non-pharmacological pain treatments. She has published over 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts, numerous book chapters, and a textbook called Pain Mechanisms and Management for the Physical Therapist. She is actively involved in the International Association for the study of pain and is currently the co-Chair for the Global Year for Integrative Health.
Christopher Petkov, PhD
Christopher Petkov, PhD, is a professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Neurosurgery. Petkov is a comparative auditory systems neuroscientist whose laboratory uses cutting-edge technologies developed at the University of Iowa to study hidden dimensions of human brain function for language and memory. He received his PhD in systems neuroscience at the University of California at Davis conducting work that received a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the neuronal basis for illusory sound perception in the brain. In 2022, Petkov came to UI Health Care to help to grow the neurosurgery patient research as vice chair for research.
Seth Tomchik, PhD
Seth Tomchik, PhD, is a professor of neuroscience and pharmacology and associate director of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute. Tomchik came to UI Health Care in 2022, joining the Departments of Neuroscience and Pharmacology and Stead Family Department of Pediatrics. His research focuses on two interrelated questions: How are memories encoded in the brain and how do neurodevelopmental disorders – which often impact memory – affect neuronal function at the molecular, cellular, and circuit levels? Recent research from the lab has identified mechanisms of neuronal dysfunction and metabolic alterations in the genetic disorder neurofibromatosis type 1.
About the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust
The Iowa Neuroscience Institute, a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary neuroscience center within the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, was made possible by a $45 million gift from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust. This generous gift from the Carver Trust extends an impressive history of giving to the University of Iowa from the Carver family.
Beginning with personal contributions from the Muscatine, Iowa, industrialist and philanthropist Roy J. Carver, and his wife, Lucille, this generous support has continued through grantmaking by the Carver Trust, which was founded following Roy J. Carver’s death in 1981. As of July 2025, more than $215 million in Carver Trust funding has been awarded to the university in support of scholarships, professorships, research, and facilities.
As the University of Iowa’s most generous donor, the Carver Charitable Trust has made an indelible impact on the UI and the UI Carver College of Medicine’s research enterprise, leading to advances in the fields of neuroscience, ophthalmology, cardiology, metabolism and obesity, infection and immunity, pulmonology, cancer, and many other areas of biomedicine. The Carver name will be forever linked with significant scientific discoveries and treatments to cure diseases and transform lives.
For more information about the Sept. 23 investiture ceremony, contact Mackenzie Krob, director for events, health sciences, at the UI Center for Advancement at mackenzie.krob@foriowa.org.