They provide excellent patient care, help train future health leaders, work to diversify the health workforce and serve as leaders in their specialties: They are Des Moines University’s 2023 Alumni of the Year and Rising Star Award honorees.
“In their contributions, achievements and leadership, these distinguished individuals demonstrate the power and value of a DMU education,” says Krystal Kruse, assistant director of alumni relations. “Through their expertise and selfless service to others, they truly make our world a better, healthier place, and the university is so proud to honor them.”
Alumni of the Year and Rising Star Award honorees are selected by the DMU Alumni Association Board of Directors and university leadership. Award recipients must be:
- in good standing as members of their respective professional state or national organization and the DMU Alumni Association;
- demonstrate excellent service to DMU, its students and their profession; and
- demonstrate a record of service to their community on a local, state and/or national level.
Below are this year’s honorees.
College of Osteopathic Medicine: Thomas Cavalieri, D.O.’76, MACOI, FACP, AGSF
Thomas Cavalieri, D.O.’76, MACOI, FACP, AGSF, the College of Osteopathic Medicine Alumnus of the Year, is the senior vice provost of the Virtua Health College of Medicine and Life Sciences of Rowan University and chief academic officer of Virtua Health in Stratford, New Jersey. He has strengthened the osteopathic profession as a longstanding member of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Board of Deans executive committee and a member and past chair of the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. He is the past chair of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners, which provides assessment services for the osteopathic profession. He currently serves on the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education board, which accredits all graduate medical training programs for physicians in the United States.
Cavalieri began his career in medical academia after working in private practice for about a year. He helped create one of the nation’s first formal fellowship programs in geriatrics. He is the founding director of the Center of Aging (now the New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging) and was appointed to the New Jersey Commission on Aging. He has received numerous awards during his career, including the 2023 Dale S. Dodson Award of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, given to a current or past leader of an osteopathic college who has made significant contributions to the advancement and support of osteopathic medical education.
College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery: Tiffany Hauptman, D.P.M.’98
Tiffany Hauptman, D.P.M.’98, the College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery Alumna of the Year, is a podiatric physician and chief of staff at Henry County Health Center in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. She began her career as a seventh- and eighth-grade mathematics teacher and coach in Iowa, but her attendance at a sports medicine conference changed her course to podiatric medicine. She graduated from DMU with the CPMS Leadership Award and the Timothy Holbrook Memorial Award for Excellence in Orthopedics. She opened a practice in Mount Pleasant that joined Great River Health in 2016.
Hauptman served on the CPMS Alumni Council and then became a CPMS representative on the DMU Alumni Board of Directors when the university merged its three colleges’ alumni councils into a unified board. Beyond her medical practice, she is active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and serves as a location coordinator for Wreaths Across America, a nonprofit organization that organizes wreath-laying ceremonies to honor American veterans of all wars who are interred at Arlington National Cemetery and more than 3,700 additional locations in all 50 states, at sea and abroad. In that role, she works to obtain donations so that the graves of the 107 veterans buried at a local cemetery will have a wreath in December, when the ceremonies occur.
College of Health Sciences: Laurie Hughell, M.S.P.A.S.’04, M.P.H.’06, PA-C
Laurie Hughell, M.S.P.A.S.’04, M.P.H.’06, PA-C, is the 2023 College of Health Sciences Alumna of the Year and a physician assistant at the Iowa Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center in Urbandale, Iowa. She joined the center in 2004 and has since used her extensive experience in rheumatology to treat complicated musculoskeletal diseases and systemic autoimmune conditions while striving to improve patients’ quality of life. She brings to her role additional expertise from a geriatric fellowship and a master’s degree in public health from DMU.
Hughell is a longtime guest instructor for students in the university’s physician assistant and physical therapy programs and precepts PA students at her practice. She is a member of the American College of Rheumatology, the Association of Rheumatology Professionals, the Rheumatology Association of Iowa and the Iowa Physician Assistant Society. She’s done some speaking and publishing through Rheumatology Advanced Practice Providers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and providing educational programs, professional advancement services and resources for these professionals. She also has lobbied on patient care issues, access and reimbursement policies in Washington, D.C., and at the Iowa Capitol.
Rising Star Award: Kelsey Mims, D.P.T.’12
Kelsey Mims, D.P.T.’12, is a physical therapist at BenchMark Physical Therapy in Atlanta and the recipient of the 2023 Rising Star Award, given to DMU graduates of the past 15 or fewer years who have made noteworthy contributions to their industry or community. As a DMU student, she received a full-tuition Glanton Scholarship, awarded to students underrepresented in the health professions. She has since “paid forward” that benefit by working to help diversify the physical therapy profession toward a greater goal — to provide better, more culturally competent health care to all people, especially minority and underserved communities.
"I want to ensure that our patients who are primarily minority are getting equal care and are being treated by people who truly understand them and their culture and their background," she says. "Some of my clinics serve primarily Black American communities, and it was eye-opening to realize some patients aren't sharing the same information with their doctors that they share with me, because there is a disconnect in the level of trust and understanding. That's one of the reasons why I have become more passionate in the push to seek out and hire more minorities. I want to make sure my patients are getting the best care possible."
