The University of Iowa Department of Surgery faculty and staff take pride in providing leading-edge patient care, advancing the field of surgery through first-rate research, and delivering superior education and training to the next generation of surgeons.

The department’s surgeons and medical professionals address a wide variety of complex medical issues, from matching donors with recipients in the Organ Transplant Center to providing continuous care for both adult and pediatric trauma victims in one of the state’s two designated Level I Trauma Centers and a certified regional Burn Treatment Center. Specialists provide critical surgical support among comprehensive, multidisciplinary teams for the treatment of cancer, gastrointestinal and colorectal diseases, and vascular ailments, as well as advanced surgical care for the smallest pediatric patients. Skilled plastic and reconstructive surgeons manage complex reconstructive issues resulting from deformities, traumatic injuries, or cancer excision in both adult and pediatric patients, in addition to surgical and non-surgical cosmetic services for adults.

Education

Research

About Us

The department provides critical and unique resources for Iowa. 

Years ago, surgery faculty at Iowa performed the world’s first gastric-bypass surgeries for morbidly obese patients. Today, the department continues its commitment to innovative surgical procedures and techniques in all areas, such as minimally invasive and robotic surgery, while offering advanced technologies like the positive pressure isolation room and state-of-the-art hydrotherapy facility for burn patients.

Patient care in the UI Department of Surgery is informed by basic science and clinical research—translating the latest discoveries from the laboratory bench to the patient’s bedside as well as into every aspect of education and training. Fellows, residents, and medical students are exposed to revolutionary medicine and surgical techniques that will enhance their skills, and the department’s faculty value the opportunity to shape today’s learners into tomorrow’s best and brightest surgeons.

>41K

Department of Surgery Visits

35

consecutive years ranked as one of the best academic hospitals in the U.S.

# 1

Iowa's #1 hospital as ranked by U.S. news & world report

News

Dr. Dionne Skeete recipient of 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Carver College of Medicine Events

REDCap Data Handling

Thursday, October 16, 2025 10:00am to 11:59pm
Virtual

This is the sixth and final step in the REDCap training series. In this training we won't use REDCap at all. Instead, we will cover ways to view and manage your exported REDCap data in Microsoft Excel and Sublime Text such as:

Populating data from one Excel sheet to another with vlookup()

Seeing specific data with column sorting and filtering

Ensuring data is cohesive by creating tables

Looking at how data relates to other data by creating pivot tables

Transforming unusable data to a usable format...

Internal Medicine Grand Rounds 10/16/2025

Thursday, October 16, 2025 12:00pm to 1:00pm
General Hospital

Quarterly Department Update by Upi Singh, MD

Neuroscience and Pharmacology Workshop - Alexandra Petrucci, PhD promotional image

Neuroscience and Pharmacology Workshop - Alexandra Petrucci, PhD

Thursday, October 16, 2025 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Medical Education Research Facility

Seizure Circuit Activity in the TMEV Model of Infection-induced Epilepsy

Alexandra Petrucci, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Dr. Ted Abel's Lab

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