In reviewing the stories in this issue of Medicine Iowa, I kept circling back to the idea of “community” and how it applies to our mission as an academic health system and our commitment to educating, training, and caring for Iowans.
A community may refer to the cities, towns, and rural areas where we live. It also applies to people who share similar interests, experiences, or values. In this sense, UI Health Care represents multiple “communities” working together to serve all of Iowa. We teach and train tomorrow’s doctors and health care providers so that Iowans will continue to have access to the best care. We do research to better understand human health and disease and inform how we teach and provide care. And we provide this care so that people across the state may live without pain, illness, or injury.
In this issue, you will read about examples of “community” at UI Health Care. We feature our Department of Family and Community Medicine and how we’re enhancing residency training opportunities to help attract and retain more family care providers across the state.
You’ll discover how investigators with our Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center are exploring the metabolic pathways involved in dietary fat to identify new targets for treating fatty liver disease and other conditions. You’ll learn how we’re expanding access to cancer clinical trials in collaboration with Mission Cancer + Blood, part of UI Health Care. You’ll see how it took expert care and teamwork from multiple pediatric specialties to save an Iowa girl with a rare and life-threatening autoimmune disease. You’ll find out how research by physician-scientist Michael Welsh and a community of scientists, clinicians, and trainees helped turn cystic fibrosis from a fatal disease to a manageable condition.
And you’ll read the remarkable story of an Iowa boy born at 21 weeks — acknowledged by the Guinness World Records as the most premature baby — and our maternal-fetal medicine and neonatology specialists whose expertise made this baby’s delivery and survival a reality.
In each of these stories, you’ll see examples of dedicated individuals working together to solve specific questions with the goal of making life better, and healthier, for people and their communities.
