 Alumni Interviews:
Nancy Iverson, M.D.
Going the Distance
"I really loved Iowa and really loved the University
and its campus. It felt like I was coming
home again."
Nancy Iverson, M.D., has accomplished a lot since graduating from
the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine 25 years ago.
She has been
awarded various honors and awards for her work with children, including
the Outstanding Contribution to Children and Families from the
University of San Francisco, having a special day named after her.
And she’s completed three dozen Alcatraz swims.
"I have parents tell me I’m a wonderful role model for
their children," Iverson said. But, she really just likes
to be involved.
Home again
Born in South Dakota, Iverson moved to Iowa when she was 3 years
old. She lived in Waterloo until her family moved to Ottumwa when
she was 14. She graduated from Ottumwa High School and headed to
Michigan State. However, she came back to Iowa for medical school
because she thoroughly enjoyed the state.
"I really loved Iowa and really loved the University and
its campus," Iverson said. "It felt like I was coming
home again."
After graduating from medical school, she moved to California,
where she currently is on staff at California Pacific Medical Center
in general pediatrics. She is also on the clinical faculty at the
University of California, San Francisco, where she is working to
develop a pediatric palliative care service. She said she entered
the field because of her love of children.
End-of-life issues
"I’m very interested in growth and development in children,
as well as end-of-life care for children and parents," Iverson
said.
Her interest in pediatrics has expanded to facilitating support
groups for families of those with life-threatening illnesses. She
also is involved in a new course for medical students at UCSF and
Stanford University titled "The Healer’s Art." This
course is an elective for medical students that discusses the meaning
and mystery of medicine and gets students ready to be caring people
and doctors.
Iverson is also co-founder of PATHstar, an organization that combines
Western medicine with alternative medicine, nutrition, and spirituality
to form "authentic healing" that is appropriate for specific
cultures.
For being involved in so many activities, Iverson was honored
by the mayor of San Francisco when he named May 16, 2001 as Dr.
Nancy Iverson Day in recognition of her contribution to service
and ethics work in pediatrics.
"It was a huge surprise," Iverson said of the honor. "I
wasn’t expecting it at all."
In the swim
Medicine isn’t Iverson’s only interest, though. Just
this June she completed her 37th Alcatraz swim. She is also the
first woman to participate in the Bay to Breakers Swim, which is
an 11-mile swim from the Bay Bridge to Ocean Beach in San Francisco.
Iverson began swimming to alleviate back pain.
"I started swimming at the UI Field House while in medical
school whenever I had a chance to get over there," said Iverson. "During
a bout of severe back pain in 1993, I found that ice really helped
my pain, so I stopped pool swimming and I started swimming in the
cold Bay water. I just got hooked from there."
As she turns 50 this year, Iverson isn’t slowing down any.
She plans to swim to Pier 50 for her birthday this year.
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