"Built for the surgeon who wants to do it all — and do it well, wherever they practice."

I have spent my career studying how surgeons learn. What I have found, consistently, is that the best training does more than build clinical competence. It develops the person behind the clinician.

That conviction shapes everything about this fellowship.

At the University of Iowa, we have made a deliberate commitment to preparing the whole surgeon. You will train in one of the most clinically diverse critical care environments in the country — rotating through our combined Surgical and Neurosciences ICU and our Cardiovascular ICU, with hands-on experience in our internationally recognized, Gold Level ECMO program. The breadth of what you will see and manage here is genuinely uncommon, and it is intentional.

But clinical training is the floor, not the ceiling.

Embedded in your fellowship year is a structured career launch curriculum — something most programs simply do not offer. We will work together, with real accountability and real milestones, to help you identify the kind of position you actually want, navigate the search and negotiation process, and walk into your first attending role with clarity and a plan.

You will be mentored here, not managed.

Whatever path you are headed toward, I want this year to be the one that sets you up for it.

I would love to hear from you. Please reach out, ask questions, and come see us. Iowa City has a way of surprising people — and so does this program.

Martha Godfrey, MD, MS Program Director, Surgical Critical Care Fellowship University of Iowa Health Care