University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center Program

Program Identity & Fit

The University of Iowa Urology Residency is an academic, research-embedded program housed within a tertiary/quaternary academic medical center, with continuous NIH funding for three decades and an intramural seed-grant program that gives residents early access to funded scholarly work. Training spans UI Health Care Medical Center, Stead Family Children's Hospital, and the Iowa City VA, with residents assuming graded autonomy at the VA as junior residents (PGY3) and chiefs (PGY5), managing their own procedure clinics and operative schedules. Residents are expected to generate research questions as early as PGY1-2 and produce manuscripts and presentations by PGY3-5, reflecting a department where all faculty are expected to publish annually and residents are folded into that expectation. Outcomes split fairly evenly between subspecialty fellowship (oncology, reconstruction, pediatric, endourology, robotics) and private practice, with a smaller number entering academic faculty roles, indicating the program produces well-rounded surgeons rather than funneling toward a single track.