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1960s
Thomas Boat (66MD) was appointed the 49th dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Vice President for Health Affairs.
Robert C. Smith (62MD, 68R) published a book on the nation’s mental health system, titled, Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? Smith also presented ideas on restructuring medicine and medical education to the National Academy of Medicine and was inducted into the Michigan State University Department of Medicine’s Wall of Fame.
1970s
Nancy Andreasen (70MD) was noted in a December Psychiatric Times article titled, “What Happened to Psychopathology?”
Howard Dittrich (78MD) was named interim CEO of XyloCor Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to advancing gene therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Kathryn Edwards (73MD) was featured in a National Academy of Medicine article highlighting her career in building the science of vaccine safety.
Ekhart Ziegler (70F) co-authored Nutrition, Immunology and Microbiology: The Critical Window of Development, a textbook for health care science training programs.
1980s
Peter Aran (81MD, 84R) was included in Marquis Who's Who for his impactful career in health care and education.
Keith Carter (88F) was interviewed in The Ophthalmologist and shared milestones from the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology's 100 years of service.
David Kent (86MD, 90R) published Why Me? The Brain on Tilt, which provides a comprehensive overview of mental illness.
2000s
Jeremy Cauwels (02MD) participated in a Sanford Health executive panel discussion on strengthening the health care workforce.
Kamesha Harbison (09MD) was appointed to the Georgia Composite Medical Board.
Jeremy Nelson (09PA) was featured in a news segment on KCRG-TV9 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, highlighting Simulation in Motion–Iowa.
Kenneth Nepple (04MD, 10R) was featured on Davenport, Iowa, TV news station KWQC, sharing insights on prevention, genetics, and treatment advances for prostate cancer.
Ginny Ryan (03R, 06F) was featured in an Oxford Academic article on assessing U.S. military veterans’ fertility intentions before and after military service.
Andrea Swenson (07R) was featured in a St. Jude Children's Research Hospital article comparing rare genetic variants found in different motor neuron disease patients, identifying overlapping genetic risks that highlight the disease’s shared origins. Swenson is a clinical professor in the University of Iowa Department of Neurology.
Karrie (Hines) Theoharis (06PhD) gave the 52nd Sherman Hoslett Lecture at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
2010s
Marygrace Elson (10MME) received the University of Illinois Chicago’s 2025 Distinguished Service Award.
David Janssen (15MD) was named 2025–2026 Iowa Family Physician of the Year by the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians.
Mohanad Nada (16CER, 16PhD) received the American Society of Hematology Award for 2025 and was appointed Chairman of the Medical & Health Sciences at The American University of Iraq.
2020s
Kevin Lawrence (21MD) finished a tour with the Navy as an operational medical officer in charge of the Mountain Medicine and Cold Weather Medicine training courses at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center - Bridgeport.
Anthony Purgianto (21R) featured in the Daily Iowan discussing UI Health Care's use of Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT), an approach for patients with depression unresponsive to antidepressants. Purgianto is a physician and clinical professor of psychiatry.
Christopher Strouse (20F, 25MS) was featured in a Blood Cancer Journal article on outcomes of CAR T-cell therapy in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.
IN MEMORIAM
Martin Bermann (90R) worked as an endocrinologist and spent his career as chief of the endocrine division at the John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan. Bermann died Oct. 18, 2025.
James Cross (67MD) practiced obstetrics and gynecology at West Hills Women's Clinic in Portland, Oregon, serving in numerous leadership roles with the Oregon Medical Association, including as its president from 1992-1993. Cross died May 29, 2025.
Shirley J. Hartman (82MD), in her professional life spanning 38 years, approached medicine holistically, combining mainstream medicine with acupuncture, frequency specific microcurrent, IV chelation, diet, and nutrition. Hartman died May 29, 2025.
Gordon Larson (68MD) maintained solo ophthalmology practice in Spokane, Washington. He was known for sending each patient a rose after performing cataract surgery to thank them for trusting him with their care. Larson died June 14, 2025.
Paul Pomrehn (75MD) interned at Maricopa County Hospital before serving in the Indian Health Service with the people of the Navajo Nation. He returned to Iowa City and held numerous academic leadership roles at the University of Iowa, including associate dean for student affairs and curriculum in the Carver College of Medicine. He was also instrumental in the creation of the UI College of Public Health. Pomrehn died Sept. 6, 2025.
Norman K. Rinderknecht (58MD, 65R) served in the U.S. Army before entering private practice in Des Moines. Rinderknecht served as president of the Iowa Methodist Medical Center medical staff and as executive board member for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, among other leadership roles. Rinderknecht died Oct. 15, 2025.
Morris G. Sloan (54MD) served as a captain in the U.S. Army before training and becoming a board-certified radiologist. He practiced in Boone, Iowa, and surrounding communities until retiring in 1987. Sloan died Aug. 6, 2025.
Fernando Tapia (43BA, 47MD) came to Iowa from Panama with a dream and became a pioneer in child psychiatry and longtime faculty member at the University of Missouri and University of Oklahoma. Tapia later established a scholarship for medical students at the University of Iowa. Tapia died April 13, 2025.
David Van Ginkel (62MD) of Cincinnati, Ohio, practiced pediatrics for more than 40 years, served as a consultant to the U.S. Office of Child Development, and was an organizer of Sabin Sundays at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital so that area children could be immunized against polio. Van Ginkel died Dec. 1, 2025.
Helen Vodopick-Goswitz (60R) worked alongside husband Francis Goswitz at Oak Ridge Medical Clinic in Tennessee for 43 years. One of her career highlights was an interview on 60 Minutes, where she defended her pioneering work with radiation treatments for NASA and testified successfully before a U.S. Senate committee led by Al Gore. Vodopick-Goswitz died July 8, 2025.
In memory of Dr. Arnold Menezes
Arnold Menezes, MBBS (74R), a professor in the University of Iowa Department of Neurosurgery who as a clinician, researcher, educator, and scholar became one of the world’s foremost experts on skull-base surgery, died Oct. 30, 2025.
A native of India, Menezes joined the UI faculty in 1974 following residency training in surgery and neurosurgery and fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery at Iowa. Over the course of his 50-year career, Menezes treated thousands of patients from Iowa and around the nation and world. He was internationally known for his expertise in the surgical treatment of the craniocervical junction — the area where the skull meets the spine. He developed neurosurgical procedures at the base of the skull, and he described dozens of disorders and abnormalities that occur in this region of the brain and spine: basilar invagination, Chiari malformation, Down syndrome, and others.
A prolific scholar, Menezes helped strengthen the specialty of neurosurgery with his published research articles and through workshops, national and international presentations, and participation in organizations such as the North American Skull Base Society, of which he was a founder. Beginning in the late 1970s, he created and maintained a database of patient cases he and his colleagues had treated — a database that grew to include thousands of cases.
“Over time, every medical textbook would include a major chapter on the craniocervical junction,” Menezes noted in a profile from 2024. “Iowa became known as the center of excellence for this. We were describing the problem and designing the solution.”
Throughout his career, he was contacted by neurosurgery colleagues from across the country and around the globe for his insight and expertise, and he taught and mentored dozens of neurosurgery trainees. He received numerous awards for his work, including the Franc D. Ingraham Award for Distinguished Service and Achievement, the highest honor given by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and its Congress of Neurological Surgeons Section on Pediatric Neurological Surgery.
Menezes stopped performing surgeries in recent years but continued to participate in the department’s clinical work, writing, teaching, and mentoring.