Spotlight
Every story matters at Dance Marathon, even for volunteers
For Amelia Earley, Dance Marathon is more than a 24-hour event — it’s a lifeline. Influenced by her brother’s cancer diagnosis, the University of Iowa senior helps ensure that families, siblings, and students find connection and community year-round.
Student success
A Hawkeye shapes his future as a doctor
University of Iowa student Tyler Draayer came to campus from Lawton, Iowa, expecting great academics. He discovered so much more.
Finding purpose in public health
With support from the Hawkeye Experience Grant, University of Iowa public health student Aden Baldridge gained hands-on experience in South Africa that has played a key role in his education and career goals.
Every story matters at Dance Marathon, even for volunteers
For Amelia Earley, Dance Marathon is more than a 24-hour event — it’s a lifeline. Influenced by her brother’s cancer diagnosis, the University of Iowa senior helps ensure that families, siblings, and students find connection and community year-round.
Health care
UI-based program seeks to improve the quality of care for adults with disabilities
Across Iowa, professionals who support adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities face complex challenges every day. Project ECHO, a free, UI-led telehealth program, is helping by connecting providers across the state to share expertise, solve problems together, and improve care for Iowans who need it most.
Iowa middle schoolers flock to UI Health Care STEM event
A December 2025 Kids Go STEM event on the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine campus provided students with fun, interactive sessions and a glimpse of day-to-day life in various careers.
‘Your kid will smile again’: Iowa family spreads positivity after a 3-year-old's open-heart surgery
When a routine heart murmur turned into a rare diagnosis, the Zenisek family was thrust into uncertainty. Their journey through pediatric open-heart surgery and recovery at UI Health Care now offers reassurance to others facing the same fear.
Research
Galls, thieves, and parasites: Iowa biologists unspool wild world of oak-dwelling wasps
Iowa biologist Andrew Forbes’ lab, with a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, is revealing the unknown ecological world of parasitic wasps, which have value to cataloging biological diversity and controlling insect pests in agriculture and forests.
Iowa researchers celebrate TRACERS launch
Dozens of scientists from the University of Iowa traveled to Lompoc, California, to joyfully witness the successful rocket launch associated with TRACERS — the NASA-funded mission to study the mysterious, powerful interactions between the magnetic fields of the sun and Earth.
TRACERS: The milestone moments (so far)
With the TRACERS launch imminent, take a trip through the timeline of the university’s largest externally funded research project, which will examine the powerful interactions between the magnetic fields of the sun and Earth.
Always a Hawkeye: Alumni stories
Rooted in rural Iowa: CRISP scholar builds a future in women’s health
Ashley Hurd-Jackson’s first deliveries were pigs on the family farm. Now she is training to deliver babies — and better access to care — across rural Iowa.
Coming home: State champion returns to lead her alma mater
After chasing her goals across state lines and in a few different jobs, University of Iowa alumna Madison Melchert is back home and ready to lead the next generation at Dallas Center-Grimes High School as activities director.
Making a difference for kids in the ER
Medicine alumna Laura Socwell didn’t plan to work in pediatric emergency medicine. Now, she’s proud to care for Iowa’s littlest patients.
Community impact
UI-based program seeks to improve the quality of care for adults with disabilities
Across Iowa, professionals who support adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities face complex challenges every day. Project ECHO, a free, UI-led telehealth program, is helping by connecting providers across the state to share expertise, solve problems together, and improve care for Iowans who need it most.
One alum’s nontraditional path to occupational medicine
Through his practice in Waverly, Iowa, Jon Fields seeks to heal the body, the mind, and the community through the prevention and treatment of workplace injuries.
From field to clinic: How Community Connect is changing health care in rural Iowa
A University of Iowa Health Care program gives small-town hospitals the technology and support to treat patients faster and closer to home.
Faculty and staff features
Writing across disciplines: Among elite company
Iowa’s unmatched writing-related resources prepare its graduates for success in many fields. This level of excellence positions Iowa as the best public university for writing and communication.
Cardiothoracic surgeon says Iowa care team has heart
When you need a procedure as complex as open-heart surgery, you should choose the best, most experienced care team. That is exactly what University of Iowa Health Care offers to heart patients, says Mohammad Bashir.
UI detective unravels identity theft scheme
Thanks to Ian Mallory’s investigation, which involved untangling hundreds of documents and obtaining a crucial DNA test, a California man who had been falsely imprisoned and involuntarily hospitalized for saying he was who he said he was regained his true identity.
Athletics
Meet Kid Captain Millie Judge
Millie Judge was transferred to UI Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital shortly after birth for breathing issues, and she underwent open-heart surgery at just 4 months old. Diagnosed with a rare syndrome, she continues to return for expert monitoring and care.
Meet Kid Captain Ray Walker
Ray Walker was having an average of 20 seizures a day as a toddler. UI Health Care experts diagnosed the Indianola, Iowa, boy with focal epilepsy and performed a surgery that disconnected one side of his brain from the other. He has been seizure-free for five years.
Meet Kid Captain Blake Bonta
Blake Bonta was a healthy and happy 10-year-old until severe headaches sidelined him. A scan showed a mass at the back of his brain, which UI doctors diagnosed as an aggressive cancer.