The Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association (WMAA) will honor its 2025 Distinguished Medical Alumni Award recipients during a banquet on May 2 at Union South on the UW–Madison campus. Among the awardees will be two physicians with ties to the Department of Pediatrics:
- Paul Grossberg, MD, professor emeritus of pediatrics at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, will receive the Resident/Fellow Citation – Distinguished Resident Award
- Jay Iams, MD, professor emeritus of OB-GYN at The Ohio State University, will receive a Medical Alumni Citation – Distinguished Alumni Award
Grossberg completed his pediatrics residency at the University of Wisconsin in 1978 and subsequently joined the Department of Pediatrics as assistant professor. He retired as professor in 2009 from the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine and became professor emeritus. He has a national reputation in screening, brief intervention, and motivational interviewing related to high-risk behaviors, including substance use, sexual health, and diet/exercise. His monthly motivational interviewing workshops for SMPH students and residents are “legendary and highly regarded by students and residents.”
Iams is a double Badger, having earned his BA from UW–Madison in 1968 and his MD from the UW medical school in 1972. He began his career as assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1979 and became professor emeritus in 2013. Iams’ career and research interests focused on the prevention of premature delivery in pregnancy, and he established one of the first prematurity clinics with a focus on prematurity-related research. His work on progesterone use in women with a history of preterm labor transformed obstetrical practice.
Iams has a special connection to the UW Department of Pediatrics through the Iams-Tuffli Lecture. This annual lecture series on the practice of pediatrics is named in part after his late father, Alexander Iams, MD. The elder Iams and Gordon Tuffli, MD, were two Madison-based pediatricians and friends who embodied the lecture series’ goal of promoting camaraderie in the field of pediatrics. After Alexander Iams passed away in 1984, his family — including son and daughter-in-law Jay and Pat Iams — established a memorial fund and lecture series to honor his 35+ years in pediatrics. View a list of the 2025 WMAA award recipients.