Board-certified University of Iowa Children's Hospital neonatologists, who also are on the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics at the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, will be assigned to Genesis to provide care for babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Genesis Medical Center, located on East Rusholme Stree, Davenport. The physicians will practice at Genesis on a full-time basis and live in the Davenport area.

Joel Stenzel, M.D., will be the full-time medical director of the Genesis NICU beginning April 1. Stenzel also has accepted a position as clinical associate professor of pediatrics in the UI Carver College of Medicine.

In July, Zahi Zeiden, M.D., will join Stenzel in full-time practice at Genesis and on the faculty of the UI Carver College of Medicine.

Edward Bell, M.D., and Michael Acarregui, M.D., are serving as co-medical directors of the Genesis NICU and will continue in these roles until Stenzel's arrival April 1. Both are pediatricians at University of Iowa Children's Hospital. Bell also is a professor of pediatrics and Acarregui also is an associate professor of pediatrics, both in the UI Carver College of Medicine.

Stenzel is currently medical director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines. Stenzel is board-certified in pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine. He is a 1986 graduate of the UI Carver College of Medicine. He completed his pediatrics residency at Blank Children's Hospital and his neonatology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

"This is a very exciting partnership and is great news for Genesis and for newborn and pediatrics patients in the Quad Cities," said Frank Claudy, M.D., vice president of medical affairs at Genesis Medical Center. "We will have academic-level care available every day to high-risk babies and their families.

"It is a wonderful opportunity for Genesis to partner with one of the nation's top children's hospitals and to partner with physicians, like Dr. Bell, who have helped the University of Iowa program attain that respect," Claudy said.

Leo Bressanelli, president and CEO of Genesis Health System, said the relationship between Genesis and the UI follows the principles of the Genesis mission to provide compassionate, quality health services for all those in need.

"This relationship means Genesis will be offering an even higher level of care for our youngest patients," Bressanelli said. "We are pleased to be in a partnership with such highly regarded physicians who are experts at caring for babies."

Bell said the relationship between Genesis and University of Iowa Children's Hospital will enhance the existing reputation of the Genesis NICU as a regional leader for birth services.

"There will be no reason that anyone in the Quad Cities should want to have a baby anywhere other than at Genesis. Genesis is going to have available a quality of care that will extend beyond the neonatologists," Bell said. "The nursing staff at Genesis is energized and will be receiving additional training from the University of Iowa.

"This announcement is a way of strengthening a relationship that already is positive for University of Iowa Children's Hospital and for Genesis. We see this relationship as part of our larger mission to assure good care for babies around the state wherever we have the opportunity," Bell said.

Stenzel said several factors were important in attracting him to Genesis.

"Obviously, my relationship with the neonatologists at University of Iowa Children's Hospital was what originally drew my interest, but the opportunity to build something that is truly needed and wanted in the Quad Cities was also very appealing to me," Stenzel said. "The people at Genesis are offering me the unique opportunity to step in and build the nursery of the Quad Cities with the backup of the university being just a doorstep away."

In 2004, Stenzel oversaw a team of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who took care of the smallest baby to ever survive in Iowa. John Allen Shirley of Knoxville weighed 11.5 ounces when he was born on Oct. 16, 2004. John Allen Shirley is the third-smallest surviving baby boy in the world.

Bell said that over time, higher-risk babies will be born in the Quad Cities, but the highest-risk babies in the region will be delivered at UI Hospitals and Clinics whenever possible, as they are now.

"With the quality of care that will be available at Genesis, the highest-risk babies will be able to return to the Genesis NICU more quickly because a higher quality of care will be available there," Bell added. "We now will be able to provide the same unsurpassed quality of care and outcomes at Genesis that we have at University of Iowa Children's Hospital."

The University of Iowa Children's Hospital NICU has outcomes for premature babies that are consistently among the top 10 percent of hospitals in the country.

For more information:

University of Iowa Children's Hospital

Genesis Medical Center

Edward Bell, M.D.

Michael Acarregui, M.D.