Championing access to high-quality cancer care for rural Iowans

When cancer patients in rural Iowa need treatment, the journey often involves more than a diagnosis.

Repeated trips for surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and follow-up care can create financial strain, disrupt work and family life, and make it harder for patients to stay on track with treatment.

Helping rural hospitals deliver high-quality cancer care closer to home has become a focus of Ingrid Lizarraga, MBBS, FACS, breast surgical oncologist with UI Health Care's Department of Surgery and Iowa chair of the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.

Through her leadership at both the state and national levels, Lizarraga is helping strengthen rural cancer programs and expand access to high-quality care for patients across Iowa.