Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences has received initial accreditation to be a sponsoring institution under the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education — a milestone that gives DMU the green light to launch residency programs.
“Achieving this accreditation positions Des Moines University to directly sponsor new residency programs across Iowa, strengthening the state’s physician workforce while expanding high-quality clinical training opportunities for our students,” says David Connett, D.O., FACOFP (dist.), dean of the Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine. “This designation will enable DMU to develop innovative, mission-aligned GME programs within our own clinical system and in partnership with hospitals and community sites statewide. Ultimately, it allows us to help meet Iowa’s growing need for physicians, retain more of our graduates locally, and ensure patients throughout the state benefit from exceptional, osteopathically-informed medical education and care.”
DMU’s first program will be a one-year fellowship in osteopathic neuromusculoskeletal medicine, housed in the Des Moines University Clinic — Osteopathic Manual Medicine. Fellows will focus on becoming experts in hands-on osteopathic techniques that treat the body without medications.
Fellows must complete a primary care residency before entering the program, which will be open to both DMU graduates and graduates from other institutions. The fellowship will also include a required two-month hospital rotation at a local partner site.
Applications and interviews will begin in 2027, with the selected candidate announced in spring 2028. The plan is to begin with one fellow per year and eventually expand to two annually while exploring additional residency specialties in the future.
Becoming an ACGME sponsoring institution means DMU can now create residency positions locally, strengthening its clinical training pipeline, expanding quality rotation spots for students and giving Iowa another tool to keep physicians in state — a big deal as Iowa currently faces a physician shortage.
Looking ahead, DMU plans to offer additional residency programs across a number of specialties, including family medicine, internal medicine and emergency medicine. This will also benefit third-year students rotating through their clerkships, providing more environments to learn in that are designed for education.
“Any time medical students are doing their third-year clinical rotations in a center that has residents, the quality of the education is enhanced because the entire facility is focused on education,” explains Jennifer Beaty, M.D., FACS, FASCRS, associate dean for graduate medical education and designated institutional official.