Meet the Experts: 2018 Bloom Panelists

Plans are well underway for our 5th annual Bloom: Moms Morning Out, and as always we are so excited for this event!  This year’s Co-Host is University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, and we are so grateful for their support in bringing this wonderful event to all of the moms in our community.

We hope you can join us for an amazing morning filled with food, shopping, swag bags for everyone to take home, tons of giveaways (over $2000!), and our absolute favorite part: the expert panel.  

We are so, so grateful to these incredible experts from our community who have agreed to come and share their knowledge with us.  For those of you who have never been to the event before, the panelists will each take about 2-3 minutes to introduce themselves and tell you more about what they have to offer to moms and families in our community.  After that, we will open it up for questions from the audience.  This is such a powerful part of the event; we absolutely LOVE watching moms ask all of the questions they’ve wanted to ask, and to have all of the right people there to answer them!

Without further ado, here are the 2018 Bloom Panelists.  Special thanks to each and every one of them for giving their time and joining us this year!

Erica Carlisle, MD

Dr. Carlisle is a pediatric surgeon at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin and her medical degree at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. She also completed her residency and fellowships in surgery at the University of Chicago before coming to the University of Iowa. One of the most rewarding parts of her job is helping patients through a difficult time and seeing how they can progress throughout their life.

 

Ana Cary, MD, FAAP

Ana Cary is a pediatrician at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Before coming to Iowa, Dr. Cary completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, San Diego. She completed medical school at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and she completed pediatric residency at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. After residency she worked for 3 years at a pediatric private practice and a pediatric concierge private practice in Los Angeles County before moving back to Iowa in 2016. She enjoys caring for newborn infants and equipping new parents with knowledge to help them raise happy and healthy children. When she is not working she enjoys spending time with her husband and her 6 year old daughter. 

Linda Cooper-Brown, PhD

Linda is a pediatric psychologist at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital with educational specialist and PhD degrees in school psychology; both from the University of Iowa. She specializes in treating young children with behavior problems and infants and children with feeding difficulties. Her favorite part about the job is seeing children improve with their behaviors and learning to eat. She takes pride in working at the University of Iowa because of the excellent staff that uses cutting-edge research when taking care of patients each day. Outside of taking care of patients, Linda stays busy as a mom of adolescent twin boys.

 

Sonia Culver, M.A., CCC-SLP

Sonia Culver is a Speech-Language Pathologist and owner of Enrichment Therapy and Learning Center, in Coralville, IA.  Her passion is to work with kids who have difficulties communicating with others.  Whether it be articulation, social skills, comprehension or expressive language; she, and the other speech-language pathologists and learning specialists devoted considerable time in acquiring training for research-proven techniques.  

Sonia was originally an SLP in the schools and saw a need for additional services.  Like many schools, the resources and qualification criteria were limited, resulting in many kids “falling through the cracks.”   This is why Sonia started Enrichment TLC.  They now service kids and students from birth through early adulthood.  They are experienced in working with students who have a variety of diagnosis; everything from a minor articulation delay, to apraxia of speech, reading delays, comprehension, ADD/ADHD, Autism, and language impairments.   Sonia and her team have recently started a half-day and full-day academic program for kids who struggle in school.  They act as a bridge, to help kids who are struggling, form foundational skills that are needed for academic success. 

 

Laura Dellos, ARNP, CNM

Laura is a certified nurse midwife at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She received her BSN from the University of Missouri-Columbia and her MSN from the University of California-San Francisco.  Laura started her nursing career as a labor and delivery nurse and was hooked!  She has practiced as a CNM in a free-standing birth center and a rural hospital prior to moving to Iowa in the late 1990s.  When not catching babies or seeing patients at UI Health Care Iowa River Landing, she enjoys cooking, playing tennis and spending time with family. She is the very proud mom to twins who graduate from the University of Iowa this spring!

 

David Gugliano, DDS

I grew up in Iowa City, and graduated from Iowa City West High School in 2006.  I attended the University of Iowa and graduated in 2010 with degrees in both biochemistry and music.  It was while pursuing my undergraduate studies at Iowa, that I was invited to The Family Dental Center to learn more about the field of dentistry.  Soon after, I realized that I wanted to become a dentist.  I graduated from the University of Iowa College of Dentistry in 2014.  I am currently a member of the Academy of General Dentistry and the American Dental Association.  In February of 2014, I was elected to Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the National Honorary Dental Society.  

It was at Iowa City West High School where I met my best friend and better half, my wife, Bethany.  We have been married since 2010 and look forward to watching our family grow in the coming years.  Bethany and I enjoy spending time with our families, attending baseball games in St. Louis, and going on walks with our dog, Nola.

I am honored to be able to provide dental care for you and your family in the very community where I grew up.  I look forward to serving you.

Pam Hoogerwerf, 

Pam grew up in Iowa and attended the University of Iowa where she became a die-hard Hawkeye on the cheerleading squad. She majored in broadcasting journalism and health promotion but first went to work for United Airlines as a Flight Attendant. Her fiancé and now husband lured her back to Iowa City where she began her career within University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She transitioned over to University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in 2008 where she began her role as Director of Community Outreach and Injury Prevention. She has obtained special certification in injury prevention and is a certified child passenger safety technician. One of the programs she manages is the Safety Store, where customers can obtain assistance with children’s injury prevention products including car seats, BOB strollers, HALO swaddles, cabinet locks and bike helmets. She is passionate about keeping kids safe and enjoys traveling the state promoting messages related to that. She has been married for 32 years and has a 29 year old daughter who recently was married and a 17 year old son so she feels like she has been a mom for a long time. She loves all kinds of fitness and being outdoors.

Dana Hotka, DC, BA

Dr. Dana Hotka is an Iowa City native and graduate of City High School and the University of Iowa. Dr. Dana has always had a passion for helping others to find their highest potential for a happy and healthy life and somehow always knew that working in the healing arts was her direction. After graduating from the University of Iowa in 2004 with her degree in Health Promotion she spent several years immersed in training in and teaching various fitness modalities. Chiropractic played a large role in her family’s lives growing up and was always considered to be a possibility for her. She got her Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 2010 and opened Plumb Tree Family Chiropractic in May 2010. Currently practicing out of Coralville, Dr. Dana and her team at PTFC have a passion for prenatal, pediatrics and postpartum care. Dr. Dana and her husband raise their four children in the one hundred year old house his mom and him both grew up in, nearly fully restored by Hotka Construction. With strong roots in this community, both their passions run deep for simply helping to elevate people’s lives. Dr. Dana has trained with Epic Pediatrics, Dr. Tony Ebel, Dr. David Fletcher, Dr. Ron Robinson, and other world-renowned leaders in the field of pediatric and family chiropractic and wellness. She is currently pursuing further education with the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association and Functional Medicine University. “My philosophy of health is based on the concept that the body has recuperative and self-healing capabilities and the nervous system is the master control system of the whole body. It is my belief that when there is interference in this system the body will not function at its optimal potential. Chiropractic never ceases to amaze me daily and it is my mission to empower people of our community to view their health as a choice and not as a chance. I have heard so many times in my office parents tell me ‘if only they had known about chiropractic sooner’. This statement alone fuels my passion to educate people about chiropractic and vital performance as the foundation for a healthy lifestyle.”

 

Sarah Shaffer, DO

Dr. Shaffer is an obstetrician gynecologist that has been at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics since 2015. She received her degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, MO and completed her residency at St. Vincent Hospitals in Indianapolis. Dr. Shaffer was born and raised in Iowa and is extremely excited to be in her home state providing unique training to care for obstetric and gynecology patients.

 

If you don’t have your tickets to Bloom yet, ACT QUICK.  Ticket sales end early next week, and may end sooner if we sell out! Click here to get yours!

Iowa City Moms Blog
At Iowa City Moms Blog we’re a group of local moms who are passionate about connecting other moms to one another and to our community! Whether you’re an experienced mom, a newbie, expecting, or aspiring to be a mom someday, this blog is for you! Join us as we navigate this journey that is motherhood in the Iowa City area!

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