Partnership for Goods starts at UNI                                         

Brenda and Robert Good

Little did Bob Good and Brenda Nelson know, when they first met in the UNI plant physiology course taught by Dr. Daryl Smith, that the encounter would turn into a life-long relationship. That was 1972, when Bob was a biology major/chemistry minor from Keystone and Brenda was a mathematics major/biology minor from Mason City. The couple was married in 1974, when Bob started medical school at Des Moines University and Brenda began teaching in Des Moines.

Brenda became manager of research at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Iowa before she and Bob moved to Florida for his internship. They returned to Iowa, as Bob began his work with the U.S. Public Health Service in Osceola for five years and private family practice in Monticello for ten years. During this time Brenda completed another B.A. degree, this one in accounting and business administration at Coe College. In 1993, they moved back to Florida so that Bob could complete a residency in internal medicine at Nova Southeastern University/Sun Coast Hospital while Brenda served as an accountant for a legal firm. In 1996 they relocated to Charleston, Illinois, where they presently reside.

Brenda is the Director of Administration and Finance for the Radio and Television Center at Eastern Illinois University. Bob is the Medical Director at Carle Foundation Physician Services and is an internal medicine physician at Carle Clinic Association, a 300-physician specialty group in Urbana, Illinois. He is past-president of the Illinois Osteopathic Medical Society and a member of the National Council of Nurses at Valparaiso University. He was the Graduate of Distinction for his class at Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine and was named Physician of the Year in Iowa in 1989 and Illinois in 2001.

Bob completed an undergraduate thesis as part of an honors program at UNI. "The opportunity to be involved in research at the undergraduate level was unique in 1972," he said. "The Biology Department afforded me research space, and funding was achieved through the honors program." Meanwhile, Brenda was able to complete independent study research hours within the Math Department on the statistical analysis and computer programming necessary to analyze Bob's research data.

"This allowed us to work as a team to complete the work in publishable form," Bob continued. "We fully support UNI's efforts to encourage scientific research at the undergraduate level. This prepares students for the study of science and medicine at the graduate level, where students need to be able to analyze a problem and develop a solution."

Two of the Goods' three children are involved in the health care field-as a nurse practitioner and epidemiologist-and one is a commercial interior designer.

The Goods both comment that the education they received at Northern Iowa has prepared them well for their professions. "I was initially concerned in medical school that I might not be able to compete with students with advanced degrees from prestigious institutions, but I found that the scientific education I received at UNI prepared me well for rigorous studies," Bob noted.

Brenda is very much the UNI advocate, stating, "Although I started out as a mathematics teacher, the UNI educational experience and the reputation of the institution allowed me to utilize my math skills and analysis in a business setting. UNI's College of Natural Sciences has certainly impacted our lives as a family and in our professions, and we hope to be able to help the future generations through our efforts on the CNS Advisory Board."
                                          

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Last modified: 2/7/07