Dr. Hartwig has called Iowa City home since 1989 when he began dental school at the University of Iowa. He grew up in Boone, Iowa, and attended college at Iowa State University where he fortunately met his wife Celine. Upon completion of his DDS degree in 1993 Dr. Hartwig was accepted into the Dentist-Scientist Program at the University of Iowa, a program funded by the National Institutes of Health to allow both basic science/research education and dental specialty training.

In 1998 he received his PhD in Pharmacology, and in 2000 completed his residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. An unexpected result of the combined training was to find that private clinical practice, rather than the political world of academics, was where he really wanted to be.