Faculty Focus: Q&A with reconstructive urologist Alexandria Hertz, MD

What’s special to you about joining the Iowa Urology team?

I think it is special to be a part of a team of experts helping to provide world-class care for the state and surrounding communities.

What are your clinical interests?

Helping patients with the breadth of complex reconstructive needs. I enjoy taking care of patients with post-cancer treatment needs such as incontinence, stricture disease, and erectile dysfunction. Ureteral strictures and similar concerns are challenging to manage, and I like to be able to bring a comprehensive approach to those patients. I enjoy helping those with soft tissue conditions of the genitals, including buried penis and hidradenitis suppurativa.

What are you looking forward to as a member of the Iowa Urology team?

I’m looking forward to helping improve quality of life for patients in Iowa and helping train excellent future urologists.

Also, my arrival doubles patients' access to a reconstructive urologist, which will tremendously improve how quickly we can see patients with reconstructive needs and how many we can see. I am also offering a robotic approach for many of these conditions, which helps to move care forward for Iowans.

What led you to the field of urology?

I appreciated the breadth of what urology could cover, from treating cancer to helping with cancer recovery, treating people of all ages, and having the opportunity to drastically improve quality of life.

What do you love about being a urologist?

I enjoy connecting with patients over what can be very personal problems and working together towards a solution or improvement.

How has your time in the service help shape you into the urologist you are today?

Having served in the Army, I have gotten to know people from all over the country and many different walks of life. This has helped me be able to make a lot of connections with patients. It has also instilled in me the need to be of service to my community, which is part of what I see as my purpose at UI Health Care.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work?

I enjoy running and I am frequently training for different races. I also love to spend time with my two boys at their activities.

What’s the best advice you ever received from a mentor?

There are hard days in medicine, but if you remember who you have helped and why you started down the road, that will carry you on the heavy days.

Do you have a favorite inspirational quote or motto?

This quote from Thomas Jefferson: “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”