James Christensen (64R–­­gastroenterology) is an internationally recognized physician, scholar, and scientist responsible for major contributions to the understanding and management of gastrointestinal tract diseases. He provided the first explanation of the motions of the human esophagus in swallowing, proved the existence of the lower esophageal sphincter, and discovered the pacemaker cells of the colon. Christensen became the first director of the Division of Gastroenterology in the Carver College of Medicine in 1971, serving there for 17 years and concurrently as the director of the division’s National Institutes of Health academic training program. Christensen received the Janssen Award for Lifetime Achievement in Gastrointestinal Motility from the American Gastroenterological Association in 1997. He has been a University of Iowa professor emeritus of internal medicine since his retirement in 1998.

The eighth NIH grant renewal extends funding for the Iowa Cochlear Implant Clinical Research Center to more than $76 million over 43 years.

Former UI fellow Paari Dominic, MBBS, MPH, has returned to UI Hospitals & Clinics, specializing in a procedure that helps people with heart rate issues.

Melissa Palma (15MD) is many things these days—a physician, an educator, an advocate. But when it all began, she was an Iowan. “I like to tell people I spent K through 20th grade in Iowa,” she says.

Did smokers do better than non-smokers in a clinical trial for an experimental cancer treatment? That was the intriguing question that led University of Iowa researchers and their colleagues to develop a drinkable, carbon monoxide-infused foam that boosted the effectiveness of the therapy, known as autophagy inhibition, in mice and human cells. The findings were recently published in the journal Advanced Science.

The University of Iowa’s educational course in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been endorsed by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO). Iowa is one of only two institutions in the U.S. and 19 worldwide to earn this distinction, cementing the university’s place as an international leader in the advanced life support technology.

The Carver College of Medicine’s Global Health Distinction Track gives medical students a chance to explore differing modes of health care delivery and give back in meaningful ways.

Changes reflect the health system’s focus on its integrated mission of medical education, research, and patient care as it serves more Iowans in more locations

Brian Meeker, DO, has been a valued preceptor with the Carver College of Medicine’s Physician Assistant (PA) Program for nearly 30 years. His supervision and guidance through students’ family medicine rotations at Virginia Gay Hospitals and Clinics in Vinton, Iowa, has shaped the careers of generations of PA students, many of whom were inspired to dedicate their own careers to practice in rural Iowa.

Meet Alex Lewis, a 2023 graduate of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Doctor of Physical Therapy program from Colorado Springs, Colorado.