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Strengths

The department began in 1913 and has a long history of excellence and that history promotes a mission that will continue this tradition. History alone will not carry a department but given a choice, a history of success is an important strength.

A strong residency with a focus on clinical care and research is a core feature of a strong department.

The department has a nationally acclaimed residency program which brings recognition to UI Healthcare and helps attract and retain talented faculty and develops future academic leaders. The best resident candidates come to Iowa to train with outstanding faculty. This reinforces the importance of faculty retention and development by providing adequate salaries, state of the art facilities and career opportunities that are second to none. We have outstanding residents and some members of the residency have in the past and in the near future will become faculty members.

We have strong research labs. We are rated # 11 in NIH funding among orthopedic departments and as recently as 2010 we were # 1.  Our three labs work well together and all participate in our p-60 CORT Grant.  Our labs also work well with the clinical faculty.  This has been a clear strength of our research enterprise and leads to basic research that easily translates into clinical care.

The most important department resource is our faculty. They provide outstanding care to our patients, educate medical students and residents, direct research programs and project our reputation for excellence by  becoming local and national leaders. We have senior faculty that are among the most renowned orthopedic surgeons in the nation. We have junior faculty who have the talent and drive required to become the next generation of national leaders and we must maximally support their career development. The department needs to provide the junior faculty unparalleled career development opportunities through mentorship and access to outstanding research and educational resources. Several of our current residents have tremendous, almost unique, academic potential. They need to be recruited to our faculty and mentored to contribute to our mission. These young faculty members will lead the department into the middle of our second century of excellence. Most importantly, we must foster a culture where all faculty members, at all career stages, embrace a vision of team work, collaboration and commitment to excellence. In the future our strength will be with the young faculty members that will carry the tradition of Iowa orthopedics. With new faculty that we will recruit in critical areas, we will be set to fulfill our mission and strategic plan and remain one of the great departments in the world over at least the next 25 years.