Adam Connell, MHA, MSN, RN, PMH-BC, NE-BC

Adam Connell is Assistant Clinical Director for CDD. Connell joined CDD in April 2025. Currently, under the direction of Jim Leste, CAO for the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Connell is sharing interim responsibility with UCEDD director, Caitlin Owens, for leading the administration of CDD’s clinical, grant, and business functions.

Connell is responsible for overseeing and guiding the clinical operations of the CDD, collating, interpreting, and analyzing operational datasets that assist in the planning, monitoring, and supporting of CDD initiatives. This includes aligning objectives at local levels across the clinical platforms providing patient care in CDD. 

Connell joined the U.S. Navy after high school, where his service included five years leading a team involved in anti-piracy operations and counter-narcoterrorism efforts. His naval service also included being selected for a naval officer commissioning program that sent him to nursing school—a long-time personal goal—at the University of Iowa. He completed his naval service as a nurse working with veterans who were often challenged by mental and behavioral health issues. On his return to Iowa, he took on leadership roles at UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, and later, at the VA Medical Center in Iowa City, just across the road from CDD. His previous roles at Iowa Health Care include Addiction Medicine Clinical Operations Manager, Psychiatry.