Becker honored with ISU Alumni Humanitarian Award

     A 2020 graduate of Monticello High School was recently honored by his college alma mater with a distinguished award recognizing his worldwide humanitarian efforts.

   Dr. Chad Becker, a 2005 graduate of Iowa State University (ISU), received the ISU Alumni Association’s “Alumni Humanitarian Award” on Nov. 3 during ISU’s Homecoming festivities.

   Becker graduated from ISU with a bachelor’s degree in dietetics. He was quite passionate about teaching people how to grow their own food and sustainability.

   The award recognizes “ISU alumni for outstanding contributions to human welfare that transcend purely professional accomplishments and bring honor to the university.”

   Becker knew the Alumni Association was working to nominate him, with help from his father, Charlie Becker.

   “Katie (Lickteig, with the Alumni Association) reached out to Charlie about six months ago, but I definitely did not expect it,” he said. “I usually like to stay out of the spotlight.”

   Becker’s award was presented by Jeff Johnson, the Lora and Russ Talbot Endowed President and CEO of the ISU Alumni Association.

   “As one nominator wrote, Dr. Chad Becker has one of those unique personalities,” read Johnson. “When everyone is running from a tragic situation, he is running to help.”

     Becker has traveled to Tanzania, Vietnam, Europe, and most recently, twice to Ukraine, many times with his father by his side. Each trip was all about fulfilling the needs of the people.

     “Our purpose, sole mission, was to help the people,” he said, plain and simple. “We tried to do what we could to help the refugees.”

     When traveling to these various countries, Becker seeks out connections to find out what the people might need, whether it’s medical supplies, clean water, of computers for the school children.

     In 2022, Becker and his father made two separate trips to Ukraine to provide medical supplies and food to the hospitals and soldiers fighting on the frontlines.

     “After our first time (there),” he said, “we made more contacts and learned more about what and where the needs were.”

     “He’s made subsequent missions to the region (Ukraine) showing bravery and compassion in the face of the most inhumane conditions,” Johnson read.

     Becker said if more people thought about the needs of others, about those less fortunate, about those living with less, “the world would be a lot better place.”

     He said so many places in Ukraine today “are absolutely demolished.

     “I am still getting air-raid notifications,” he shared. “Millions of people are dying on an astronomical scale, both Ukrainians and Russians.”

     Interestingly enough, Iowa has a sister-city in Ukraine, Smila, south of Kyiv.

     “When we were there, it looks exactly like Iowa,” marveled Becker. “It felt like I was in Iowa.”

     After graduating from ISU in 2005, Becker attended Idaho State University where he took on an internship in dietetics.

   In about 2008, he pivoted toward pursuing a career in medicine.

   “I asked myself what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I decided on medicine, so I pulled the trigger.”

   Becker went to Des Moines University for medical school.

   “I was just floating around,” he said of his lifestyle. “I felt I needed to do something with structure. Medicine brought me back and I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life. I love going to work every day.”

   Since 2019, Becker has been working as an attending emergency medicine physician at both UnityPoint Health in Des Moines and JFL Memorial Hospital in California. He spends about 10-days at a time in California, once or twice a month. The rest of the time, he’s in the Des Moines area where he resides.

   One big difference between the work he does in both hospitals is workload.

   “With the volume and acuity, I can keep up my skillsets,” he said of spending time in California. “It boils down to treatment and stabilizing life-threatening conditions. It’s my duty to help out society.”

   Becker said the culture on the West Coast is a lot different than the Midwest.

   “A lot of people don’t utilize access to healthcare or don’t have any.”

   Johnson read on, “His service throughout the COVID pandemic were rendered with the same empathy.”

     During the pandemic, Becker still maintained his presence in both Iowa and California, as travel restrictions would allow.

     Of working in the medical industry during such unprecedented times, Becker recalled, “It was extremely difficult and very taxing. Healthcare completely changed; it’s still not the same as it was before, nor will it ever be.”

     Becker pointed to the continued nursing shortages, ER holds, and employee burnout.

     With his medical background, Becker was unable to assist other medical personnel while in Ukraine “due to the politics.”

     “His advocacy extends beyond his profession to conversation and preservation of natural resources, as well as sustainable solutions,” Johnson concluded.

     “I am a total hippie,” laughed Becker. “I’ve always been passionate about preservation, renewable and sustainable resources, and buying local.”