How can we better deliver health care options to rural Iowa? That topic will be the focus of the upcoming Hawkeye Lunch and Learn event, as Patrick Brophy presents “Telemedicine in Iowa: Improving Health Care Delivery.”

The free event will be held at noon Wednesday, April 8, in the Iowa Theater of the Iowa Memorial Union.

​Brophy is the UI director of pediatric nephrology, dialysis, and transplantation, as well as the assistant vice president for the university’s eHealth & Innovation Center. He will discuss the center’s developing telemedicine program, which will deliver diverse health care options to rural Iowa. Its benefits include reduced costs and travel, increased access to specialties and follow-up care at the local level, and more engagement with personal health care decisions.

This eHealth system will build partnerships with community health care providers to offer initial consults, access to subspecialties, e-diagnostic testing, in-patient monitoring, transitional care, and medical home management. Thanks to collaboration with the UI Carver College of Medicine and the Colleges of Pharmacy, Nursing, and others, this program will ensure future graduates possess the telemedicine skills to meet the needs of their patients.

The Hawkeye Lunch and Learn series offers monthly events in Des Moines and Iowa City designed to connect Iowa communities, university faculty, and government and industry leaders. The Provost’s Office of Outreach and Engagement sponsors the series.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation to participate in this program, contact the Office of the Provost in advance at 319-335-3565.