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Mary Newcomb highlights LAB-InterLink to (left to right) Roger Bulger, Steve Hinrichs, M.D., Bob Bell and UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. |
The president and CEO of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AHC) today caps a two-day informational visit to UNMC, which included detailed presentations on UNMC’s bioterrorism preparedness efforts.
Roger J. Bulger, M.D., joined the AHC in 1988. Before that, he was president of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for 10 years and, prior to that, served as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center at Worcester and dean of its medical school for three years.
“We’re excited to show our expertise and recent growth in many areas to Dr. Bulger,” UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said. “In many areas, we are a model that other medical centers could follow, and I think Dr. Bulger will be impressed with our efforts.”
Dr. Maurer recently was named to the 12-person AHC Biodefense Council, which will develop criteria to recommend funding for 10-12 AHCs that will serve as initial models in the United States.
“The goal is to have the chosen AHCs serve as ‘hubs’ or ‘cornerstones’ of local and regional bioterrorism preparedness efforts in the United States,” Dr. Maurer said. “At the council’s first meeting on Nov. 18, it was clear that Nebraska is way ahead of other AHCs nationally, in terms of bioterrorism preparedness.”
In November, UNMC showed off its expertise to Tom Ridge, who recently was sworn in as the country’s first Secretary of Homeland Security. UNMC has pushed for a National Emergency Preparedness Laboratory to be placed in Omaha. The laboratory would augment the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
Steven Hinrichs, M.D., director of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory and the czar of bioterrorism preparedness for UNMC, told Ridge and others that several factors make Omaha the best location, strategically, to house the facility that would augment the CDC’s work.
Said Dr. Maurer: “We have the greatest concentration of advantages in this field of anywhere in the United States. Already, we’ve been recognized by the federal government for our unique, cutting-edge efforts in bioterrorism preparedness. Now, we’d like to take that one step further.”
Today, Dr. Bulger will meet with many of the key officials at UNMC, including leaders in research, distance education, nursing, surgery and transplantation. On Monday, he met with those involved in UNMC and the state’s bioterrorism preparedness efforts, as well as with LAB-InterLink officials. He also viewed the on-going construction of new facilities, including the privately funded, $77 million Durham Research Center.
“Having a leader of Dr. Bulger’s stature at UNMC is significant for this campus, in that it gives us a chance to show off our centers of excellence to a key national figure in academic medicine,” Dr. Maurer said.