The University of Nebraska Medical Center will honor three people who
have displayed tremendous dedication and excellence in their fields during
its May 10 commencement ceremony in Omaha. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m.
at the Omaha Civic Auditorium for students in the College of Medicine,
College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing Omaha division, School of Allied
Health Professions and the Graduate College.
UNMC will award its Distinguished Service Award to Stanley Truhlsen,
M.D., emeritus professor and former interim chairman of UNMCs department
of ophthalmology. UNMC will award an Honorary Doctor of Science degree
to Marla Salmon, Sc.D., dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
of Emory University. Donald H. Zornes, who recently retired as president
and chief executive officer of the Columbus Community Hospital, is this
years recipient of the J.G. (Jack) Elliott Award, given annually to a
Nebraska resident who has made significant contributions to medicine and
health programs for the State of Nebraska and for UNMC.
UNMC will kick off its spring commencement ceremonies May 8, at 7 p.m.
at the Health & Sports Center at the University of Nebraska at Kearney
for students in the College of Nursing Kearney, the School of Allied Health
Professions and the Graduate College.
On May 9, at 2 p.m., students in the College of Dentistry and the Lincoln
division of the College of Nursing will participate in commencement ceremonies
in the Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln.
In all, approximately 530 students will graduate this spring from UNMC.
Distinguished Service Award
Stanley Truhlsen, M.D., is nationally recognized in the field of ophthalmology.
A native of Herman, Neb., Dr. Truhlsen graduated from the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln in 1941 and received his doctor of medicine from the University
of Nebraska College of Medicine in 1944. After completing residency-training
programs in New York and St. Louis, Mo., he returned to Omaha in 1951 and
entered private practice. At that time, he joined UNMCs department of
ophthalmology, where he served as interim chair of the department from
1989-90. He retired in 1993.
In 2001, he received the Lucien Howe Medal from the American Ophthalmological
Society (AOS), the oldest ophthalmic organization in the United States.
The Howe Medal is considered one of the most prestigious awards in ophthalmology
and is the only honor award of the AOS. It is given in recognition of “conspicuous
services as a researcher or a teacher during long years of devotion” and
for contributions to ophthalmology.
Dr. Truhlsens professional involvements include: former president of
the American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Eye Study Club and Nebraska
Academy of Ophthalmology, and member of the American College of Surgeons,
American Medical Association, Nebraska Medical Association, Omaha Ophthalmology
Society and the Lions Eye Bank of Nebraska.
Dr. Truhlsen continues his service to the University as a founding member
of the Friends of the McGoogan Library of Medicine and currently serves
on the executive council for that group. He also is a trustee for the University
of Nebraska Foundation.
UNMC is deeply grateful to Dr. Truhlsens generosity for establishing
the Truhlsen Eye Research Laboratories in the Durham Research Center, which
is scheduled to open this fall.
The UNMC Chancellors Distinguished Service Award is given to individuals
or organizations that have demonstrated outstanding support for UNMC by
way of personal service, private contributions or other meritorious advocacy
for the campus mission.
Honorary Doctor of Science degree
Marla Salmon, Sc.D., is the dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School
of Nursing of Emory University, and is a professor of nursing and public
health. She is the founding director of the Lillian Carter Center for International
Nursing in the School of Nursing. Her leadership in these roles builds
on a career that has been dedicated to improving the health of people through
nursing and public health.
Dr. Salmon joined Emory in 1991 after serving as professor and graduate
dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior
to that role, she was director of the Division of Nursing for the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, leading the key federal programs
aimed at shaping the nations nursing workforce. She has held several academic
and administrative positions at the universities of North Carolina, Minnesota
and Pennsylvania.
Dr. Salmon has been extensively involved in the area of international
health, beginning early in her career with a Fulbright scholarship focused
on national health systems development in Germany and Kuwait. Since then,
she has worked with the World Health Organization, International Council
of Nurses, the Pan American Health Organization and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
Dr. Salmon has consulted with governments and organizations outside of
the United States and served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the
World Health Assembly. She is the past-chair of the World Health Organizations
Global Advisory Group on Nursing and Midwifery.
In her national leadership roles, Dr. Salmon is a member of the Board
of Trustees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and has been involved
in several key advisory groups, including the White House Task Force on
Health Care Reform. She chaired the National Advisory Council on Nurse
Education and Practice. In these and other roles, she has led in the development
of many important national initiatives aimed at interdisciplinary workforce
planning, enhancing diversity in nursing and meeting the needs of underserved
populations.
J.G. (Jack) Elliott Award
Donald H. Zornes retired recently after serving as the president and
chief executive officer of the Columbus Community Hospital (CCH) in Columbus,
Neb., for 24 years. Zornes contributions to rural health care and education
have impacted on the health care of Nebraskans, as well as UNMC. His leadership
focus, which encompasses all aspects of health care, has benefited Columbus,
as well as surrounding counties and areas of the state, rural educational
student rotations, patient referrals throughout the state and the future
of medicine in Nebraska.
While president and CEO of the Columbus hospital, Zornes was instrumental
in bringing groups together to plan, build and open the $35 million Columbus
Community Hospital as a state-of-the-art facility in a rural community.
During his tenure, services were added or expanded including Life Flight
Services; outreach, home health and hospice skilled nursing units; cardiopulmonary
rehabilitation facilities; occupational health services; personal care
services for those caring for chronically ill family members; speech therapy;
and expanded Women, Infants & Children (WIC) and immunization services
within the surrounding four counties. He has taken an active lead in the
development of county and district health departments and organizations,
the Platte Valley Physician Hospital Organization and the creation of the
CCH Foundation.
He was instrumental in supporting UNMCs medical students during their
third-year, two-month rural rotations and their first-year, three-week
preceptorships as well as in providing experiences for pharmacy and physician
assistant students. In addition to developing rural, clinical experiences
for UNMC students, Zornes worked with individuals and community groups
to provide room and board for students to minimize further accrual of educational
debts for the students.
He received a bachelor of science degree in economics and a masters
degree in hospital and health care administration from the University of
Minnesota. Zornes, who currently lives in Arizona, has served on the national
level as a member of the American College of Health Care Executives and
on the American Hospital Associations (AHA) board of directors as well
as a variety of capacities on many of the AHA councils and committees.