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

“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.

Matt Howard, MD, began developing medical devices as a medical student and is the inventor on 34 issued university-owned U.S. patients. His inventions range from brain and spinal cord neuromodulation implants to treat conditions such as tinnitus, obesity, and chronic pain, to surgical tools and implants that help make surgeries safer and easier to perform.

Michigan might be Samantha Sparrow’s home state, but Iowa has become her new favorite state. The graduate of the University of Iowa physician assistant program will practice in the Hawkeye State, and plans to be active in recruiting younger people to consider careers as a PA.

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.

The UI Carver College of Medicine was one of 10 medical schools nationwide honored for its students’ efforts during National Advocacy Week. The schools were announced during the AMA-MSS national interim meeting, held Nov. 8-10 in Washington, D.C.