Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leading Academic Medicine and Public Health at the University of Iowa with Dr. Denise J. Jamieson

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Leading Academic Medicine and Public Health at the University of Iowa with Dr. Denise J. Jamieson · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Healthcare
• 0:02
  Podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm thrilled today to be joined by a
• 0:05
  brilliant physician leader. We're joined today by doctor
• 0:09
  Denise Jamieson.
• 0:10
  Doctor Jamieson spent about twenty years at the
• 0:12
  CDC. She's also spent time at Emory. Now
• 0:15
  she has helps to head up the University
• 0:18
  of Iowa.
• 0:19
  She's the the vice president of medical affairs
• 0:22
  and also the dean of the medical school
• 0:24
  and just a brilliant leader.
• 0:26
  Doctor Jamieson, Denise, can you take a moment
• 0:29
  to introduce yourself, and then we'll talk about
• 0:31
  the mission of the University of Iowa and
• 0:32
  and a lot more.
• 0:34
  Sure. So I am an obstetrician gynecologist by
• 0:37
  training. I trained at the University of California,
• 0:39
  San Francisco.
• 0:41
  And following residency,
• 0:43
  I went to the Centers for Disease Control
• 0:46
  and Prevention
• 0:48
  as a commissioned officer in the US Public
• 0:50
  Health Service.
• 0:52
  I was in a two year fellowship called
• 0:54
  the Epidemic Intelligence Service or EIS
• 0:57
  program, and I expected to stay just two
• 1:00
  years.
• 1:01
  But I fell in love with the place,
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  and I ended up spending twenty years and
• 1:05
  retiring in 2017.
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  And during that time, I got to do
• 1:11
  all sorts of fun things.
• 1:13
  I started out,
• 1:14
  in HIV
• 1:16
  looking at mother to child transmission and the
• 1:18
  effects of HIV on women.
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  And then I,
• 1:22
  worked on some emergency responses and got really
• 1:25
  interested in emerging infectious diseases.
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  So worked on pandemic influenza
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  and Ebola
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  and Zika right before I retired,
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  in 2017. I also got really interested in
• 1:39
  vaccine preventable illnesses
• 1:41
  and the role of vaccines
• 1:43
  in pregnancy.
• 1:45
  So following my retirement from the public health
• 1:48
  service,
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  I went into academics at Emory
• 1:52
  and,
• 1:54
  served first as a division director and then
• 1:56
  as the chair of
• 1:58
  the OB GYN department there.
• 2:01
  And I left there to come to University
• 2:04
  of Iowa a little less than two and
• 2:06
  a half years ago.
• 2:08
  So really enjoying my time in the Midwest.
• 2:11
  And take a moment on that first trip
• 2:13
  to Iowa and the weather and so forth
• 2:15
  as you got to the University of Iowa.
• 2:17
  Sure. So I was very happily sitting in
• 2:20
  my Atlanta office,
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  at Emory
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  and got a call out of the blue
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  letting me know that there was gonna be
• 2:27
  a job posted in Iowa.
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  And the person on the other end of
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  the line said, you know, Iowa, do you
• 2:34
  ever think about moving to Iowa? And I
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  thought, Iowa?
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  No. Never. No experience in Iowa.
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  And so I ended up taking a trip
• 2:45
  to learn more, and it was February. And
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  it was very cold, and I landed at
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  the Cedar Rapids Airport, which is a very
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  small
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  airport that I've now come to love.
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  But it was late in the evening.
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  I didn't have a winter coat with me.
• 3:00
  It was dark. It was cold.
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  I got a ride from there to my
• 3:05
  hotel in Downtown Iowa City.
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  And when I went up to
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  my hotel room,
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  I called my partner and said,
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  she said, how is, Iowa City, and what
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  do you think? And I said, no way.
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  No go. Can't come here. Very dark, very
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  cold.
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  It's not a good match for me. And
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  then funny enough, woke up the next morning.
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  The sun came up. It was beautiful.
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  Beautiful sunny,
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  crisp slash cold day
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  and met with faculty, met with residents, met
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  with students, and I was sold. It is
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  such a fantastic
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  place, in the Midwest.
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  And as Iowa's only academic medical center, it
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  is an absolutely lovely place to work and
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  so
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  feel so lucky that I landed here.
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  So so thank you. And University of Iowa
• 3:53
  in in the the the is is really
• 3:55
  a beacon for the entire Midwest and particularly
• 3:58
  state of Iowa. Talk a little bit about
• 4:00
  the mission that University of Iowa fulfills
• 4:03
  in that in in entire state and beyond,
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  quite frankly. Can you talk to us a
• 4:08
  little bit about the mission?
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  Sure. So,
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  I've always chosen,
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  made career moves and chosen,
• 4:15
  positions based on impact.
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  I really like mission driven organizations, and it
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  was clear to me from the the start
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  that
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  University of Iowa Healthcare had a really clear
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  mission, and that is to serve 3,200,000
• 4:29
  Iowans.
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  And we do that through the traditional academic
• 4:33
  missions. We conduct cutting edge research that benefits
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  Iowans and others,
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  we educate and train
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  physicians,
• 4:43
  physician leaders, and other health care providers to
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  serve in Iowa and other places.
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  Interestingly
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  half of all physicians
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  in the state
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  received at least some education or training at
• 4:56
  the University of Iowa, so we're very proud
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  of that.
• 5:00
  And we and we both provide clinical care,
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  direct clinical care,
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  on our campuses.
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  We also support other health systems and other
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  hospitals to provide care, and we take that
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  piece of our mission also very seriously.
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  Thank you. And one of the things, if
• 5:17
  you're in the Midwest and and I'm located
• 5:19
  in Chicago,
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  you end up having a ton of university
• 5:23
  university of Iowa
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  ties.
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  The CEO of Becker's Healthcare is a University
• 5:28
  of Iowa graduate. My sister's a University of
• 5:30
  Iowa graduate. Our fantastic producer who's on the
• 5:33
  phone with us today, Chanel Banger is a
• 5:35
  University of Iowa graduate, and and we are
• 5:37
  just huge fans that people don't realize what
• 5:39
  a gem University of Iowa is if you're
• 5:40
  not a Midwesterner. Or maybe you do, but
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  but we sure do. Talk a little bit
• 5:45
  about what trends you're watching in health care
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  today, academic medical set academic medicine
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  and health care today? What what are the
• 5:52
  big trends that that you're watching most closely?
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  So,
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  first of all, thank you for acknowledging what
• 5:58
  a special place this is. I love there
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  was a a restaurant review when I first
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  started here, and they called Iowa City the
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  cosmopolitan corner of the Midwest. No offense to
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  Chicago.
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  But it is a really special place. And
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  one of the you know, I wear my
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  Hawkeye gear everywhere just about everywhere I go,
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  and it's so much fun
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  to be places and have people come up
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  to you and yell, you know, go hawks,
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  when you're walking around. And in fact, the
• 6:22
  first time it happened,
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  I was in an airport,
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  and somebody yelled, go hawks. And I looked
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  up I looked around. I had no idea
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  what I was supposed to do.
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  And so a faculty member later filled me
• 6:35
  in. They said, Denise, the only correct response
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  to go hawks is go hawks.
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  So I follow that closely now,
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  and really enjoy Hilarious. Yeah. Really being
• 6:47
  enjoy being at a place where there's so
• 6:49
  much spirit
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  and camaraderie.
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  So in terms of trends that I'm watching,
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  I mean, clearly,
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  everyone in health care knows there are financial
• 6:58
  pressures.
• 6:59
  There are federal policy changes that we're watching
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  closely.
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  You know, thankfully, we're coming into this situation
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  from a stable financial position,
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  but we need to continue to think strategically
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  about how we use our resources to prepare
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  for these financial headwinds.
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  So we are focusing on operational efficiencies,
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  recruitment and retention,
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  increasing access is, you know, one of our
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  major issues,
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  and how to
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  invest
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  in our health care system and make wise
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  choices.
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  We are also very concerned about
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  physician workforce trends.
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  We have depending on how you look at
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  it, probably we are number 44
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  in states in terms of physicians per capita
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  and even lower than that for certain areas
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  like OB GYNs.
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  So we are really
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  doing a lot to try to double down
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  on our education and training,
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  missions
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  and to both train and educate
• 8:02
  physicians, but then also keep them in the
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  state.
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  So for example, last year, 70% of our
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  medical students were from Iowa, and we're planning,
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  to get up to 80%
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  next year. We're trying to expand residency training
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  spots,
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  and we are working with state,
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  legislators
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  to find ways to expand the physician workload
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  through things like loan forgiveness.
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  Thank you. And so so important, and I
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  love hearing that because to me, that seems
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  like the the biggest, scariest thing we have
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  going forward in health care is just the
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  shortages of physicians,
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  nurses, techs in the specialties as much as
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  anything else. Even though so much attention is
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  paid to primary care, I think the specialties,
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  we have real, real holes as well. So
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  so I love hearing that. Doctor Jamieson, take
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  a second.
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  What's your most focused on and excited about
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  heading into 2026?
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  So we are really excited about evolving into
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  a system of care. So when I started
• 9:03
  here just under two and a half years
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  ago, we were a one hospital
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  system.
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  Since then, we acquired
• 9:10
  a community
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  hospital that declared bankruptcy,
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  and we opened a large state of the
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  art new orthopedic
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  facility,
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  both inpatient and outpatient.
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  And we also acquired
• 9:26
  a large cancer outpatient cancer,
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  system in the Western part of the state
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  or central part of the state in Des
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  Moines.
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  And so,
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  as we've expanded,
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  we from one central hub into a system,
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  this both this helps us improve access to
• 9:45
  care,
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  and we also
• 9:48
  are thinking about how to provide care in
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  a more coordinated way.
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  Thank you. And and take a moment on
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  what advice you would give to emerging leaders.
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  So first of all, I really believe in
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  mentorship and coaching. I think everybody should have
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  a mentor
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  or more than one mentor regardless of the
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  stage of their career,
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  and I believe in coaching, professional coaching. So
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  I have mentors.
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  I have a coach,
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  and I think it's critically important.
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  And in fact, I don't I met
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  one of my,
• 10:23
  most beloved mentors, a a man named Bert
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  Peterson, who is an OBGYN. I met him
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  when he was at the CDC. He then
• 10:29
  went on to the University of North Carolina,
• 10:32
  and I met him when I was a
• 10:34
  master's student.
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  And
• 10:36
  he was so kind and gracious when I
• 10:39
  was doing an internship at the CDC to
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  meet with me,
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  and he basically changed my career trajectory.
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  He convinced me that it was possible to
• 10:47
  be an OB GYN
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  and be in public health.
• 10:51
  And,
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  you know, I still ask him, including with
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  this current position,
• 10:58
  I ask his advice every time I make
• 10:59
  a major,
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  decision in my career. So I believe in
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  mentorship and coaching.
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  I also believe in
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  finding work life balance.
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  Sometimes people think that that means that you
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  don't have to work hard.
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  And
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  I think that health care is one of
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  the fields
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  such as elite sports that requires hard work
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  to succeed.
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  You have to work hard,
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  and you have to also take care of
• 11:26
  yourself.
• 11:27
  And be smart about your efficiency, be smart
• 11:30
  about scheduling,
• 11:31
  how you manage your calendar and your time
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  is critically important since time is one of
• 11:37
  your most valuable assets.
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  And then I also tell people be open
• 11:41
  to nonlinear paths.
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  You know, me going from a clinical residency
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  to a twenty year career in the public
• 11:47
  health service,
• 11:49
  and public health,
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  and then transitioning
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  into full time academics,
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  and a chair position and now a dean
• 11:57
  position,
• 11:58
  that is not a linear pathway. And very
• 12:00
  few of my colleagues, long standing colleagues from
• 12:02
  the CDC, took a similar path.
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  But I always make decisions based on impact.
• 12:09
  And I also think that you have to
• 12:11
  love what you do.
• 12:13
  When I was retiring from the CDC, people
• 12:15
  asked me what hobbies I was gonna take
• 12:17
  up. And I said, well, my hobby is
• 12:20
  Emory,
• 12:22
  And I would say that my hobby is
• 12:23
  now Iowa. I love what I do. I
• 12:26
  love the people.
• 12:27
  And when it stops being fun, then you
• 12:31
  need to make a change.
• 12:33
  I I think that's brilliant.
• 12:35
  Doctor Jamieson, I love the career that you've
• 12:37
  had. I love your leadership. I wanna thank
• 12:39
  you for joining us today on the Becker's
• 12:40
  Healthcare podcast. Thank you so much for joining
• 12:42
  us today.
• 12:43
  Thank you. I really appreciate it.