
DeGowin Blood Center
200 Hawkins Drive Iowa City, IA 52242 United States
- Sunday:
- Closed
- Monday:
- 7:00 am-3:30 pm
- Tuesday:
- 11:00 am-7:30 pm
- Wednesday:
- 11:00 am-7:30 pm
- Thursday:
- 11:00 am-7:30 pm
- Friday:
- 9:00 am-5:30 pm
- Saturday:
- Closed

About the DeGowin Blood Center
The DeGowin Blood Center is a hospital-based blood center that collects blood for University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics and University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital patients.
The UI DeGowin Blood Center provides service in four major areas:
Donor Collections
Therapeutic Hemapheresis
Tissue and Cellular Therapies
Transfusion Service
Following medical school graduation in 1928 from the University of Michigan, DeGowin's meteoric rise in American medicine was the consequence of his pioneering work in the banking, storage and transportation of blood.

In 1938, a group of investigators under his leadership established the blood transfusion service at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. Their blood bank was the first established west of the Mississippi River. Under his direction a series of studies proved conclusively the beneficial role of glucose in extending the useful life span of blood and the safety of blood stored in the cold for prolonged periods. Anticipating needs that were soon to be acute in the armed forces, DeGowin's group demonstrated in the autumn of 1940 the viability of several dozen samples of blood after airplane voyages half way across the continent in ice-packed containers. His contributions to blood transfusion and banking culminated in his service for five years as Secretary on the Subcommittee of Blood of the National Research Council.
In addition to his pioneering work in the expanding field of blood transfusion, he was a tireless student and scholar of internal medicine. He was among the first physicians to use sulfonamides and penicillin at the UI Hospitals & Clinics and was instrumental in designing the hospital's charting system. From his many years as a teacher, he compiled a medical student's pocket companion for guidance on the ward and in the clinic. His Bedside Diagnostic Examination was used frequently by American medical students and their European counterparts.
Elmer DeGowin served two terms as Iowa's leader for the American College of Physicians from 1965-71 and in 1974 was designated a Master of that organization.
His contributions to American medicine survive in the competence of his students, the relevance of his writings, the accomplishments of his son Richard DeGowin, MD, and the excellence of the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. In recognition of his efforts, the Elmer L. DeGowin Memorial Blood Center was dedicated in December of 1981.
Support Us
The UI DeGowin Blood Center relies on a wide variety of businesses, churches, schools, community groups and members of the University community to host blood drives. If you have a group that is interested in hosting a blood drive, please contact our Blood Drive Coordinator, 1-319-356-8327.
Refreshment Area Host
Community volunteers serve refreshments to donors after they've donated at area blood drives. As a refreshment host, volunteers help donors feel comfortable and appreciated as they rest the required post donation time. In addition, hosts educate donors about automated donations and help restock refreshments.
Telerecruitment Volunteer
Telerecruitment Volunteers come to the Donor Center to call donors, reminding them that it is time to schedule another donation.
All volunteers at UI Hospitals & Clinics must attend volunteer training through Volunteer Services.
DeGowin Blood Center Faculty and Staff Directory
Medical Director, Blood Bank and Donor Collections

Medical Director, Tissue and Cellular Therapies and Patient Services

Annette J.
Schlueter
MD, PhD
Director, Pathology Informatics

John L.
Blau
MD
Vice President for Medical Affairs

Brooks
Jackson
MD, MBA
Brooks Jackson, MD, MBA, became the UI Vice President for Medical Affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the Carver College of Medicine in November 2017. As vice president for medical affairs, he is responsible for integrated planning and operations for University of Iowa Health Care, which is comprised of University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics; the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine; and UI Physicians, the state’s largest multi-specialty physician group practice. A powerful resource for Iowa, UI Health Care has a total impact of more than $4 billion on state’s economy and is responsible for more than 33,000 jobs in the state.
As dean of the UI Carver College of Medicine, he is the leader of Iowa’s only comprehensive allopathic medical school, with the mission of inspiring and educating world-class health-care providers and scientists for the people of Iowa and our global community. In addition to serving as dean, Jackson is a professor in the Department of Pathology in the Carver College of Medicine.
Jackson is an internationally recognized AIDS researcher and is board-certified in pathology and transfusion medicine. He was the principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health–funded International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network, which conducted landmark clinical trials for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission and the treatment of pediatric HIV infection and complications. These trials led to the prevention of HIV infection for hundreds of thousands of infants as well as improved treatments for children born with HIV worldwide.
Prior to leading UI Health Care, Jackson had served since 2014 as the vice president for health sciences and dean of the medical school at the University of Minnesota. In that role, he was the executive leader for the university’s academic health center, which coordinates care and learning across six schools and colleges in dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and veterinary medicine. Jackson also served as chair of the University of Minnesota Health board of directors and the University of Minnesota Physicians board.
From 2001 to 2014, he was the chair of the pathology department at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He holds an MBA and MD from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and completed his residency in pathology at the University of Minnesota.
Staff Directory
Beth
Alden
MT (ASCP)
Contact
Phone: 1-319-384-5291
Email: [email protected]

Natalie
Chambers
MT (ASCP), MBA
Contact
Phone: 1-319-353-7603
Email: [email protected]

Laura
Collins
RN, BSN, HP (ASCP)
Contact
Phone: 1-319-356-1837
Email: [email protected]
Farah
El-Zein
MT (ASCP) SBB
Contact
Phone: 1-319-384-6653
Email: [email protected]
Mandy
McClenahan
MA
Contact
Phone: 1-319-356-8327
Email: [email protected]
Laura
Nicks
MT (ASCP)
Contact
Phone: 1-319-384-5289
Email: [email protected]
Michelle
Smith
Contact
Phone: 1-319-356-7401
Email: [email protected]