Roger Tracy receives UI President’s Award
Correction appended
Roger Tracy, CCOM director of the Office of Statewide Clinical Education Programs (OSCEP), has received the University of Iowa President’s Award for State Outreach and Public Engagement in the staff category.
Tracy joined the CCOM in 1969 as director of project development and director of community services for the Iowa Regional Medical Program. During this time, he helped attract the original funding for the Statewide Perinatal Care Program, which, under the leadership of Dr. Herman Hein, became a national model. In 1974, Tracy was named OSCEP director.
At the very beginning of his career, Tracy began collecting data on Iowa’s physician workforce. Today, this database has evolved to include all active Iowa physicians, and recently, it was further expanded to include all major health professionals — physician assistants, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, pharmacists and dentists. Based on the depth and breadth of nearly four decades of data collection, OSCEP released in 2007 the Report of the Task Force on the Iowa Physician Workforce — a detailed report that describes the current supply of physicians in Iowa, analyzes specialty trend data, and provides recommendations to increase supply and influence distribution and retention of health care providers in the state.
“No other state or region in the nation has access to similar information of this quality, complexity and currency,” said Dr. Peter Densen, CCOM executive dean, who nominated Tracy for the award. “The value of this data to state policy makers, medical educators and citizens — data that Roger has quietly and systematically assembled over 35 years — is unique and simply cannot be overstated.”
As OSCEP director, Tracy created the Statewide Medical Education System, which provides educational opportunities for medical students at six Regional Medical Education Centers around the state.
“Roger Tracy’s expertise in graduate medical education is unequalled, even outside Iowa’s borders,” said a nomination letter written by Dr. Kurt Rosenkrans, executive and residency director of the Siouxland Medical Education Foundation. “Out of his efforts have come multi-site NIH-sponsored research, a medical malpractice consortium, and a health/disability consortium, to name just a few.”
“The ultimate outcome of this outreach is the realization of one of the University’s missions — the provision of health care to Iowa citizens,” added Dr. Christopher Cooper, CCOM associate dean of student affairs and curriculum, who also nominated Tracy.
Tracy also has played a critical role in helping Iowa communities meet their primary care needs. In 1988 he designed a new practice model for Burlington Medical Center to address their shortage of family physicians. Today, the four original physicians he helped recruit are still there, as well as eight more that have been added as the program expanded. His success with that project has led leaders from many other Iowa communities, including Emmetsburg, Decorah, Audubon, Ottumwa, Pella, Lake City and New Hampton, to call on Tracy’s expertise to help them fill their communities’ health care needs.
“It is impossible for me to think of the terms ‘outreach’ and ‘public engagement’ without associating them with Roger,” Densen said. “For nearly 40 years, Roger has guided, guarded and improved the health and wellbeing of every Iowa citizen. I can think of no one who deserves this award more.”
Correction, Thurs., June 5, 2008
This article originally stated that Roger Tracy “conceived of and developed the Statewide Perinatal Care Program.” While Tracy helped attract the original funding for the program, the program itself was created and developed by Dr. Herman Hein, UI professor emeritus of pediatrics and director of the program for more than 30 years.