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Good morning, Fearless readers:
We have officially made it to warmer Iowa weather. This is my favorite time of year – green grass, nights sitting out on the deck and kids enjoying the freedom under the sun.
What are you most excited for this summer?
In this week’s Fearless e-newsletter, you will find:
- A story about the potential of a measles outbreak in Iowa.
- A story about an app that will help women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorder.
- In the headlines: Brazilian scientist Mariangela Hungria was named the 2025 World Food Prize laureate.
- A break in the news: Caitlin Clark Foundation and Musco Lighting are partnering on new mini-pitches for DMPS schools.
- Lots more!
— Macey Shofroth, Fearless editor
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How might a future measles outbreak disrupt life in Iowa?
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BY MACEY SHOFROTH, FEARLESS EDITOR
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According to the Center for Disease Control, 30 states had reported a total of 935 confirmed measles cases as of May 1, 2025.
The United States declared the virus eliminated in 2000, but experts say a decrease in vaccination rates has led to the return of the virus. Three measles deaths have been reported so far; two unvaccinated school-age children in Texas and one unvaccinated adult in New Mexico.
Iowa has yet to report a confirmed measles case, but experts are preparing. Polk County Health Department Director Juliann Van Liew expects to see some cases pop up eventually, especially as nearby states Minnesota and Kansas experience outbreaks. The spread also has schools and child centers on alert.
The facts
Measles’ contagious nature at a time when national vaccination rates have decreased has created an environment for the disease to thrive. The CDC says nine out of 10 unvaccinated people exposed to the measles will contract it, and the virus can live in a room for up to two hours after the infected person leaves.
"There is one singular thing that folks can do immediately and hopefully many have done, and that is to get that vaccine," Van Liew said.
Children are eligible for the MMR vaccine, or measles, mumps and rubella, at ages 12 months to 15 months. They receive a second dose as part of their kindergarten vaccinations, unless they have a certified exemption. One dose is 93% effective at preventing measles; two doses are 97% effective.
Across Iowa, 98.9% of school children were fully vaccinated, as were 96.8% of children in child care centers. While the rate of schoolchildren not fully vaccinated has increased in recent years, Van Liew believes that current vaccination rates will likely stymie the chance for outbreaks in Iowa that other states are seeing.
"Even though we do see vaccination rates slipping a bit, and that’s something to pay attention to, we do have pretty good coverage in most of our schools and day cares," Van Liew said. "I don’t anticipate that we’re going to have huge outbreaks in our schools."
Van Liew said the health department is focused on getting factual information to parents in ways they can understand and relate to. Refugee & Immigrant Voices in Action has also launched a campaign, "Voices for Health," aimed at the same thing.
RIVA is training multilingual community health navigators to reach different communities of people with information on how to prevent measles and what to do if it’s contracted. Cecile Bendera, a public health student at the University of Iowa and a community health navigator, explained that connecting with groups in culturally appropriate ways is key to improving public health outcomes.
She is a refugee who speaks Swahili, allowing her to support the Congolese communities in Johnson County.
"We have to connect with the group that we’re trying to serve, because it is service work," she said. "We collaborate with other community members. We’re trying to make sure this doesn’t disrupt their lives. We meet them at churches, grocery stores. … We reach them at the places where they’re carrying on their everyday lives so they don’t have to take time outside because we know their lives encompass a lot of things."
Avoiding disruptions
Many parents anticipate missing some amount of work when their child becomes sick. For children with the measles, that time could be up to 21 days depending on when their infectious symptoms subside. A positive measles case requires full quarantine away from other people.
Those who are exposed but fully vaccinated don’t have to quarantine at all. Additionally, those who are unvaccinated and exposed to a positive case can return to school and work if they receive the first dose of the vaccination within three days.
"There really is a front line of protection here in a way for parents to be able to miss no work in these cases," Van Liew said.
Health officials are closely monitoring schools, child care providers and other areas highly trafficked by children to track vaccination rates and understand risk factors. Van Liew said that knowing both your children’s and your own vaccination status, and having the appropriate documentation, can quicken the process of determining how long to quarantine if needed.
Children are required to have the MMR vaccines, unless exempted, at registered child care providers to protect babies in their care who are too young to receive it. EveryStep, a nonprofit offering health care and community services, has a team of child care nurse consultants who help child care providers keep a safe and healthy day care setting.
"They are registered nurses with backgrounds in a wide variety of pediatric and early childhood specializations," said Molly Gosselink, EveryStep’s vice president of community health.
"They go and work with any day care on safety in the day care setting. They can also do lots of troubleshooting, which I think is where they get called on the most, especially around emerging diseases and infectious diseases."
The child care nurse consultants currently provide high-level education about measles to child care providers in case the infection spreads to Iowa. The information explains the current situation in surrounding states and what to do if measles shows up in their spaces.
"One of the key ways that I see parents and day care centers collaborating is through prevention and knowing their immunization status and the immunization status of the children within their day care," Gosselink said. "The child care nurse consultants can go and do mock audits with the day care so they can talk through the situations and follow up with parents if needed."
The consultants can also help providers get vaccination records from other states when children move to the area.
Both Van Liew and Gosselink emphasize that while prevention through vaccination is the first step in combating a measles outbreak, isolation for infected individuals is also important. If you suspect you or your child has contracted the virus, quarantine immediately and call your health care provider.
"We’re worried about this minority, but I want to make sure that folks feel comfortable knowing that, by and large, the kiddos in Polk County [and across Iowa] are vaccinated," Van Liew said. "We’re working really hard to fill those gaps, but we do audit and pay attention, so we know where those gaps are and if there are risks that are heightened, and we’re communicating that so if there are cases that show up in those spaces we’re able to respond quickly."
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Idea for app seeks to help women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorder
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BY LISA ROSSI, BUSINESS RECORD STAFF WRITER
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When Clair Williams-Vavra went to Techstars Startup Weekend, she had a seven-year-old idea to help moms going through hard times after giving birth.
Once known as postpartum depression, it’s now referred to as perinatal mood and anxiety disorder, or as Williams-Vavra, 37, refers to it: being in "a hole."
She experienced it with both of her children and it was the impetus that got her to Startup Weekend, to assemble a team, interview more than a dozen people and survey many more, develop an idea of a clinical and community app for new mothers and go on to win the three-day competition.
"We are very fortunate to win, and I’d like to think a lot of the win came from how we built – on what we heard, not what we were theorizing," said Williams-Vavra, of Grimes. "So we listened and we came up with this concept called held."
The hackathon attracted 40 people March 28-30 at Maple Studios and 11 teams competed, said Colleen Kinsey, one of the co-organizers of the event.
Kinsey gets choked up when she talks about Williams-Vavra’s team’s app.
"Their pitch was just so moving, and it moved me personally to tears," she said. "Yeah I want to be a mom. And the quotes that I was reading in the presentation just – it struck me. One of the quotes was, ‘I can’t wait for this app to come out. I need help right now.’"
Kinsey said what makes a successful idea is talking to customers.
"A lot of people have the vision, but they aren’t doing the validation by talking to customers and going through the iterations and being able to get feedback," she said. "Iterative feedback is the most scalable and cost-effective way to build technology."
Techstars is holding its next event in the fall. Local organizers are looking for more co-organizers to help with the effort, Kinsey said.
When it came to the time after she gave birth to her two children, Williams-Vavra said she felt "really lost and hopeless. … And there was this big, thick layer of shame, because it can be really difficult to share with even your spouse or your family and your friends."
Instead, she learned some hard lessons and decided to share it in front of a full room at Techstars in efforts to help other women and families.
She asked everyone to close their eyes and think back to a time when they felt anxious, confused and isolated.
"And you could feel it in your body, and you could feel it in your hands, and in your sweat," she said. "And I said, ‘This is what the postpartum experience feels like for many women. Now, extend that to months, not really knowing when it’s going to end or where to turn or who to talk to.’"
The idea for the app called held was developed during startup weekend by Williams-Vavra, Danny Fast and Subbu Balla.
The app, which is a mock-up at this point, would offer two kinds of care: community support and clinical support.
For the community side, the team envisions hyper-focused support groups, journaling and prompting, daily tips and encouragement, meal and cleaning support and tools to guide partner empathy.
On the clinical side, the app would offer 24/7 telehealth, daily wellness captures, early mood and trend alerts, personalized visuals of progress and shareable provider reports.
Over the weekend, the team conducted between 15 and 18 interviews. They have also collected up to 60 survey responses, and among the insights they gathered was the realization that women don’t get seen by their obstetrician until six weeks after giving birth, Williams-Vavra said.
"Six weeks is too late, so what we want to offer with held is a routine check-in for that mom through the app," she said.
The app would have a series of touch points, including prompts, journal entries, maybe a word cloud.
"All these touch points … get you to that first six weeks, and then we use AI to summarize your experience, so that when you go in to that six-week appointment, you can hand your OB a summary of what has been happening, the highs and the lows," she said.
The app would cost $12 a month or a $49 one-time payment for lifetime access.
Williams-Vavra said she and the team plan to continue to conduct interviews to inform what they build. And then in July, they plan to seek a Proof of Commercial Relevance loan through the state of Iowa’s Economic Development and Finance Authority.
"So we’re going to seek that this summer, and hopefully by the end of the year, if not earlier, have held built out," she said.
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"COURAGE DOESN'T ALWAYS ROAR. SOMETIMES COURAGE IS THE QUIET VOICE AT THE END OF THE DAY SAYING, 'I WILL TRY AGAIN TOMORROW.'"
MARY ANNE RADMACHER
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Brazilian scientist named 2025 World Food Prize laureate. Mariangela Hungria, a Brazilian microbiologist whose innovation has increased yields while lowering input costs for farmers, was named the 2025 World Food Prize Laureate during a ceremony last week at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines. Hungria will receive the $500,000 World Food Prize during the Borlaug Dialogue, scheduled for Oct. 21-23 in Des Moines. Hungria has developed dozens of biological seed and soil treatments that use soil bacteria to supplement synthetic fertilizer, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizer and saving Brazilian farmers up to $40 billion a year in input costs and avoiding more than 180 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions each year. She is the 56th laureate and the 10th woman to receive the prize. Learn more about the award.
Kathy Underhill named CEO of DMARC; begins new role July 1. The Des Moines Area Religious Council announced Kathy Underhill will begin leading the organization as chief executive officer beginning July 1. She'll join DMARC in June and work alongside outgoing CEO Matt Unger until June 30. With a master's in social work specializing in community organizing, Underhill has 20 years of experiencing working on the issue of hunger in both nonprofit and government. She most recently oversaw nine federal nutrition programs for the state of Colorado.
Redenius promoted to Des Moines’ human resources director. The city of Des Moines promoted Heather Redenius to human resources director last week. She has served as interim director since former director James Wells retired in December 2024. She first joined the department 17 years ago as a human resources generalist and then an analyst. She's been a human resources manager for the past 12 years.
Buelt announces retirement from Bankers Trust; Stork named successor. Emily Stork, senior vice president-general counsel and senior risk officer at Bankers Trust, will become the company's next executive vice president and chief risk officer. She will succeed Gary Buelt, who will retire June 3. Stork joined the Bankers Trust team in 2017 after previously working as an attorney for Dentons Davis Brown and as the assistant county attorney in Jones County.
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Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa celebrates first bilingual troop (KCCI). The FDA approves first U.S. at-home tool as a Pap-smear alternative (NPR). U.S. Customs and Border Protection quietly revokes protections for pregnant women and infants (Wired). Federal grants to assist domestic violence survivors are back — with more strings attached (The 19th). Climate disasters inflict outsized harm on pregnant women and young families (The Daily Yonder). Why juggling IVF with work can be a career killer (Bloomberg).
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Caitlin Clark Foundation and Musco Lighting partner on new mini-pitch for DMPS schools
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Weeks Middle School in Des Moines has a new mini-pitch, a modular sports system that supports basketball, soccer and futsal, as a result of a partnership betwen the Caitlin Clark Foundation and Musco Lighting. Musco Lighting has supported the development of other soccer mini-pitches for schools in the district and is working with the Caitlin Clark Foundation to develop new multiuse courts at Callanan, Hiatt and McCombs middle schools.
"Providing every student at DMPS with greater access to activities and athletics, along with the first-rate facilities they deserve, is an important part of our strategic plan to reimagine education in Des Moines," Ian Roberts, superintendent of DMPS, said in a prepared statement.
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At its core, Fearless exists to help empower Iowa women to succeed in work and life. We believe that everyone has a story to share and that we cannot progress as a society unless we know about one another. We share stories through featuring women in our reporting, featuring guest contributions and speakers at our events.
We are always looking for new stories to share and people to feature. Get in touch with us!
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