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The first x-ray machine installed at the University of Iowa was coincident with the opening of the “new” University Hospital in Iowa City in 1898, three years after Roentgen’s discovery. The unit was apparently lightly used in those early years. In 1915 Dr. Bundy Allen, a young physician one year out of internship, became the radiologist at the University of Iowa and was given a full-time appointment at a salary of two-thousand dollars per year. Dr. Allen became a leader of the new specialty, as have many of his successors and Iowa colleagues. He was the first editor of the journal Radiology, the premier journal for the specialty, which was published in Iowa City for the first several years.

In 1930, H. Dabney Kerr, M.D., became the first chairman of the newly independent Department of Radiology. Dr. Kerr developed the department to become – by the standards of that day – a modern facility, recruited a number of outstanding faculty, and formalized the residency program. Since his chairmanship there had been only four other Radiology Chairs at the institution, until the separation of Radiology and Radiation Oncology in 2002.

Dr. Laurie Fajardo, a world-renowned expert in Breast Imaging, came to Iowa from Johns Hopkins in 2002 to head the newly-reorganized Department of Radiology.

The educational mission has always been paramount for Iowa Radiology. We are proud of our accomplishments in offering a superb training experience for residents and fellows. Thousands of medical students at Iowa have received their radiology instruction in this department and hundreds of radiology residents and fellows.

First x-ray machine at UI
First x-ray machine installed at the
University of Iowa Hospital

Superficial radiation therapy unit,
taken in the late 1930's

Technologist performing MRI scan
Modern MRI at UIHC

There are many distinguished graduates of the program. For example, about half the practitioners in Iowa either went to medical school or had their residency at the University of Iowa. There are other UI radiology alumni throughout the United States and in many foreign countries. Among the Iowa graduates are many academicians in the United States and abroad, and several chairs of other academic departments.

Radiology faculty and alumni have held a multitude of national leadership positions in medicine and radiology, including the American Medical Association, the American Board of Radiology, the American College of Radiology, and the Radiological Society of North America.

Research is an important segment of Radiology at Iowa, with many basic science and physician investigators over the years. Current external funding for research at Iowa is in the top ten percent of academic radiology departments.

The clinical service at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and at the associated Veterans Administration Hospital is among the best in the nation, as measured by quality and quantity of the clinical faculty, and by the physical facilities of the institution. The volume and characteristics of the clinical demands assure a comprehensive experience for our residents and fellows and outstanding care for our patients.