Primary Office
C42 General Hospital (GH)
200 Hawkins Drive
Iowa City, IA  52242
brittany-bettendorf@uiowa.edu

Dr. Bettendorf is a faculty member in the Program in Bioethics and Humanities and a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Immunology. Dr. Bettendorf practices Rheumatology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where she runs a Pregnancy and Rheumatology clinic as well as a Transitional Clinic transitioning pediatric patients to adult Rheumatology.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University in Poetry Writing and Neurobiology. She received her M.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals. Dr. Bettendorf completed both her Residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and Fellowship in Adult Rheumatology at the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals. She received an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at the University of Iowa in 2020. Her essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal and on Milwaukee Public Radio’s Lake Effect.

Publications (on Pub Med)

Research Interests

• Medical humanities and medical education
• Storytelling and narrative in medical education
• Reflective practice and medical education
• Reproductive health and rheumatologic disease
• Patient-centered outcomes research in Rheumatology

Teaching Activities

• Director, Editorial Writing for Medical Students (elective)
• Director, Robert D. Sparks Writing Contest
• Co-Director, Personal-Professional Compass Program
• Co-Director, Humanities Distinction Track
• Co-Director, Ethics & Humanities Sub-Internship Seminar
• Course Director, Medicine and Society II (required course for first-year medical and PA students)

University Service

• Nonfiction editor, The Examined Life Journal
• Rheumatology Program Evaluation Committee