Michael Artman MD is the new Professor and Head of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, as well as Physician-In-Chief of the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.

Thomas George, MD is the former director of the Pediatrics Residency Program at the University of Iowa.

Dr. George : Dr. Artman, I’d like to welcome you to the University of Iowa and I’m thrilled that you’ll be our new department head. I was wondering if you could please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Dr. Artman: Thank you, Tom. I’m delighted to be here, I have to tell you, I’m very excited about this. I grew up in Kansas, I grew up in a small town in west central Kansas, in Hayes, Kansas and went to college there so the Midwest is home and just the feeling of coming back home is terrific—I’m really excited about that. After college, I went to medical school in New Orleans—at Tulane and then I did my residency and fellowship training in pediatric cardiology at Vanderbilt in Nashville so I spent a fair amount of time in the South, so after my training was completed, my first real job was at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, Alabama for ten years so then moved from there, from Mobile to New York City. I’ve been at New York University for the last ten years, as Chief of Pediatric Cardiology. So I’ve moved from Mobile, to New York City, and now I’m moving from New York City to Iowa City and I couldn’t be happier.

Dr. George: Coming in as our new department head, could you please tell me what you know about the residency program at the University of Iowa?

Dr. Artman: The residency program here has always had a really strong tradition of comprehensive training, really well-rounded training and I know that it is in a department of pediatrics that it is really one of the top departments in the country, with this University of Iowa Children's Hospital and this great University of Iowa health care system. It is the total package, it has all the elements that we need. One of the things I like about the residency program, in addition to being a first rate training program and comprehensive, is that it is not so large—it is not one of these huge, big, overwhelming programs where we don’t get to know the residents—it is more like a family. It is big enough that there are enough people to go around yet it is small enough we have this sort of feeling of family and we are all working together and it is such a great collegial atmosphere and the esprit de corps and morale of the residents and of the faculty, it has such a good feel to it.

Dr. George: As department head, what would you see as your role in the residency program?

Dr. Artman: I think that the department head has to really set the tone for the residency program. One of the primary reasons we are here in academic medicine is to educate, so we teach medical students, we teach residents and fellows, and we teach each other, we teach our colleagues. So I think the department head sets that tone and keeps the eye on the prize, that the residency program is one of the main reasons we are here, that the education of our residents is key. So I see my role really as providing that leadership and trying to make sure we are acting properly as role models for our residents and that the faculty as a whole are engaged in the residency training program. So it is more setting the tone, helping set priorities, helping make sure that the ship is on an even keel and that we are covering all the aspects of the training program that we need to.

Dr. George: And from that standpoint of the training program, what do you see as the overall mission of the residency training program?

Dr. Artman: Well, I see it as really two missions. The first is that we are training general pediatricians. That is our mission. And whether you are a general pediatrician that then goes into private practice in rural Iowa, or whether you are a general pediatrician that then takes that foundation and then build upon it by becoming a child neurologist, or a bone marrow transplant person, or whatever, the best general pediatricians are those who have had good general pediatric training like they get here at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. I think the best subspecialists are those that have that good solid foundation in pediatrics. You have to be a good general pediatrician to be a good subspecialist, so that is our mission—to train really good general pediatricians and then to allow that individual to pursue whatever career choice that they want to. And we’ve been very successful of doing that here in the past. About two-thirds of our residents end up going into practice and about a third end up going into fellowship training and the people that finish their training here get the jobs that they want, be it private practice, fellowship, whatever. So I think that is our primary mission, but secondarily, kind of woven into that, and again our size of program allows us to do this, is we want every resident to reach his or her full potential as a pediatrician, so again, we are small that we can help residents through that, we can help tailor the program to meet their individual needs, we can help each person reach their full potential as a pediatrician, professionally and personally.

Dr. George: Finally, if you could just share with us your vision for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.

Dr. Artman: Again, a great department, a great health care system, and I think the University of Iowa Children's Hospital is now ready to come together as a functional, operational children’s hospital and I think we see our future as really providing first rate care, top-notch, state-of-the-art care, not only in the local area, but regionally, and nationally as well. We have all the elements here to really be a top contender and to contribute in a major way to the care of children throughout the region and for our efforts in advocacy, research and education on a national level as well.

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