The hospital was founded in 1919 and its current facility, opened in 2017, overlooks the university's football home, Kinnick Stadium.

[3][4] The hospital has 190 inpatient pediatric beds[5] and is affiliated with the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital also features the only ACS verified Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center in the state.

The target completion date for the project was initially set for March 2016, but delays meant that the new facility did not receive its first patients until February 2017; seven of the 14 floors opened at that time while construction on other floors was nearing completion.

[12] The following medical divisions are available: General Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Adolescent Medicine, Allergy/Pulmonary diseases, Anesthesia, Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Burn Treatment, Cardiology, Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Health Specialty Clinics, Child Neurology, Child Psychology, Child Psychiatry, Clinical Pharmacology, Continuity of Care, Critical Care, Dentistry, Dermatology, Developmental Disabilities, ECMO, Emergency Care, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Genetics, Hematology, Infectious Diseases, Mother's Milk Bank of Iowa, Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurosurgery, Nuclear Medicine, Nutrition, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Orthodontics, Orthopaedic Surgery, Spinal Deformity, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Speech, Swallowing, Voice, Pediatric Outreach Clinics (Cardiac-Electrophysiology, Cardiology, Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Hemoglobinopathy, Neurology, Neuromuscular), Radiation Oncology, Radiology, Rheumatology, Special Education, Specialized Child Health Services, Surgery (Pediatric), Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Toxicology, Transplantation Surgery, Trauma Surgery, and Urology.