University of Iowa orthopedics head stepping down months after new hospital debuts

NORTH LIBERTY — After more than a decade leading University of Iowa Health Care’s orthopedics department from its basement dwellings on the main Iowa City campus, J. Lawrence “Larry” Marsh is stepping down as chair — just months after moving the department into a new 469,060-square-foot orthopedics hospital in North Liberty.

UIHC is launching a national search for a new chair and executive officer of its Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation — succeeding Marsh, who began his 11 years as chair in 2014 after stepping in on an interim basis in 2013.

Marsh, officially leaving his leadership post in January 2026, “tentatively plans to remain active in clinical coverage at some capacity,” officials said Wednesday in announcing his resignation.

“Dr. Marsh has built a world-class orthopedics program here at Iowa while also leading the vision and planning behind a world-class facility that now serves as home to our orthopedic services — offering Iowans increased access to top-notch care and expertise,” UIHC Vice President for Medical Affairs and Carver College of Medicine Dean Denise Jamieson said Wednesday in a statement. “Equally transformative has been his dedication to integrating education and research into every facet of the department’s mission.”

‘Live and work here’

In the days before moving his department from the UIHC main campus to the new $525.6 million North Liberty hospital — billed as the “newest musculoskeletal hospital in the country” — Marsh answered questions about the significance for patients, doctors, and him personally.

“This campus and the transition of our department to it is a once-in-a-career experience — not only for me but for all of us fortunate enough to be a part of it,” he said. “I feel so fortunate that circumstances, combined with tremendous effort and a shared vision for the future, came together to make this happen.”

He said the new campus will help attract staff and physicians — key to a growing UI Health Care enterprise.

“It will help us in recruiting orthopedics faculty, nurses, techs, and others,” Marsh said. “And it will help us in recruiting residents and fellows who’ll want to work with the best faculty in orthopedics.”

At the open house preceding the April 28 official hospital debut, Marsh said the state-of-the-art space was a longtime coming — from its long history in the windowless basement of the main UIHC campus.

“I am representing the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, but I'm also the only speaker that is actually going to live and work here,” he said in the window-lit lobby of the North Liberty campus on April 11.

“And in two weeks, we will be shutting the lights off, and on Monday we will turn the lights on here. And it is just remarkable that that will really happen.”

‘Always be thankful’

First joining UI Health Care nearly 40 years ago in 1987, Marsh spent 15 years as the department’s residency program director before becoming chair. He also for the last six years led UIHC surgical services as co-chair of the surgical services subcommittee.

“Since 1987, the University of Iowa, the Carver College of Medicine, the department, the faculty, the residents, and especially the patients have given me not just a career, but a professional purpose that has been second to none,” Marsh said in a statement. “I will always be thankful.”

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His current annual salary is $789,330.

Earning his medical degree from State University of New York before completing orthopedic surgery residencies at Boston University and Shriners Hospital for Children, Marsh completed a fellowship at Oxford University and Nuffield Orthopedic Center in England.

With nearly 250 published papers, Marsh has clinical expertise in orthopedic trauma and adult reconstruction — having developed techniques of minimally-invasive articular fracture surgery. His research has focused on articular fractures — or bone breaks near a joint — and image analysis techniques for assessing factors that lead to post traumatic osteoarthritis.

He also has been instrumental in initiatives establishing requirements for lab-based surgical skills training for orthopedic resident physicians.

“As he transitions from his leadership post, he has positioned the department for continued excellence for decades to come,” Jamieson said.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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