The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
What is your hometown?
Oregon City, Oregon
When did you join The University of Iowa faculty?
1991
How/when did you become interested in science and medicine?
My mother was a social worker and I used to pick her up at the hospital after work. Watching and hearing about the activities in the hospital prompted me to look into medicine as a career.
Why did you decide to pursue a career in your field?
While it requires physicians of all types to provide health care, I have always felt that surgery is a very concrete application of a healing intervention and this was very rewarding.
Is there a teacher or mentor who helped shape you career?
Robert Stanley, jr, MD, was one of my faculty at the University of Southern California. He set an outstanding example of accepting nothing less than perfect in surgery.
How or why did you choose The University of Iowa?
I came to Iowa to work with Harry Hoffman, MD., http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/med/otolaryngology/faculty/hoffman.html and because I wanted to be a member of the best Otolaryngology department in the country.
How does your work help translate new medical discoveries into patient-centered care and education?
I study quality of life following head and neck cancer treatment. Our results continually shape the approach we take to treating new patients. In addition, we study more general outcomes following head and neck cancer treatment. Our work helps direct the general health issues that are important to head and neck cancer survivors and cancer survivors in general.
What professional opportunities or advantages does being a faculty member at an academic medical center provide?
I am surrounded by extremely talented people. In that sort of environment you find yourself striving to contribute and improve. Teaching residents is a constant challenge and demands that you continually remain engaged in advances in your field.
What are your professional interests?
I manage patients with cancers of the head and neck including benign and malignant thyroid tumors. Until recently, I did a great deal of free tissue transfer reconstruction, but now have two very talented partners, Kristi Chang, MD, and Nitin Pagedar, MD who are doing the majority of that work in the hospital.
What are some of your outside interests?
Beekeeping, scuba diving, hunting
What philosophy guides your professional work?
Continual improvement
If you could change one thing about the world (or the world of medicine), what would it be?
More compassion
What has been the biggest change in your field since you were a student?
The increased use of non-surgical methods to treat head and neck cancer, and the dramatic improvements in our ability to reconstruct surgical defects and restore form and function to patients following surgery.
What piece of advice do you have for today's students?
Don’t accept a passive education. You must take an active, participatory role in your education.
What do you see as the future of medicine?
For the overwhelming majority of practitioners medicine embodies the human desire to help others. As long as that remains true, the field of medicine will find a way to accomplish it.
In what ways are you engaged with the greater Iowa public?
My wife and I have been very active in the Solon High School math and science program and the music program.