Grand Island pediatrician Karen Higgins, M.D., has been selected to
receive the Volunteer Faculty Clerkship Teaching Award from the University
of Nebraska Medical Center department of pediatrics.
The UNMC department of pediatrics gives the award annually to one volunteer
faculty member from greater Nebraska and to one from Omaha. Student comments
and evaluations are used when selecting the award winners. Dr. Higgins
will receive her award Friday, May 19, at a banquet.
Dr. Higgins, a pediatrician at the Grand Island Clinic, serves as a
preceptor for students in their third-year of medical school. She serves
one student per clerkship, or six students per year. She has been a UNMC
volunteer faculty member for more than 20 years.
Dr. Higgins said students who perform their rotations in Grand Island
and other greater Nebraska communities experience many types of medicine
because the physicians with whom they are working arent as specialized
as some in metro areas.
They get to see more medicine here in Grand Island than they
would in the metropolitan cities, Dr. Higgins said.
Most students who work under Dr. Higgins arent specializing in pediatrics,
but they do gain a respect for the practice, she said.
Dr. Higgins noted the shortage of pediatricians in greater Nebraska.
West of Kearney, only two pediatricians practice in the state, both in
North Platte.
UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the state.
Through its commitment to research, education, outreach and patient care,
UNMC has established itself as one of the country’s leading centers for
cancer research and treatment, solid organ transplantation and arthritis.
During the past year, nearly $31 million in research grants and contracts
were awarded to UNMC scientists. UNMC’s educational programs are responsible
for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any
other institution.