UNMC seeks to name new building in honor of Dr. Sorrell

Michael Sorrell, M.D.

UNMC will seek approval at Friday’s (March 3) meeting of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents to name its new education building the Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education.

The building would be named in honor of Michael F. Sorrell, M.D., a legendary physician and administrator at UNMC for the past 35 years. Naming the building in honor of Dr. Sorrell was the idea of Omahans Ruth and Bill Scott, who made the largest donation to the University of Nebraska Foundation for the $52.7 million building.

At the request of Ruth and Bill Scott, the amount of their donation is not being made public. However, University of Nebraska Foundation officials said the gift ranks among the largest received to benefit UNMC.

“Over the years, we have watched UNMC be transformed from basically an indigent care hospital into a world class academic medical center,” Ruth Scott said. “Although he would never take credit for it, we know Dr. Sorrell is probably the key person in this transformation.”

Ruth and Bill Scott

Bill Scott added: “Dr. Sorrell is dedicated to the medical center and has poured every ounce of his talent and energy into making it a better place. He embodies what academic medicine is all about – research, education and patient care. By putting Dr. Sorrell’s name on the new education building, it will be a well deserved recognition for a man who has done so much to make UNMC a place that generates pride in all Nebraskans.”

The Center for Health Science Education, which is expected to be completed by the fall of 2008, is located at the northeast corner of the intersection of 42nd Street and Emile Street.

The 134,183-square-foot facility will serve as home to the UNMC College of Medicine and will provide state-of-the-art educational resources for all UNMC students. Some of the features of the building include technologically enhanced classrooms, patient-focused clinical skills laboratories, a multi-purpose conference space for continuing education and important student interaction space that will provide enhanced interdisciplinary educational opportunities.

UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said naming the Center for Health Science Education in honor of Dr. Sorrell is a fitting testimony. “Nobody deserves this recognition more than Dr. Sorrell,” he said. “Mike Sorrell is a legend, an icon, across the country and internationally.

“In all my years of experience, Dr. Sorrell is among the best, if not the best, academic physicians I’ve ever known. He is not only a superb doctor, but he demands that everyone around him achieve excellence. He is intolerant of anything else. He has been and still is the bulwark of strength for this medical center. I’d like to have at least a dozen Mike Sorrells on the faculty. Finally, I want to thank Ruth and Bill Scott for their incredible support of UNMC. Their generosity will truly allow us to move the medical center to the next level.”

Scott’s help elevate UNMC This marks the second major donation that Ruth and Bill Scott have made to a UNMC building project. In 2003, they were among eight major donors to the Durham Research Center on the UNMC campus. Their gift established the Ruth and Bill Scott Neuroscience Research Laboratories on the third floor of the Durham Research Center. In addition, Ruth and Bill Scott also recently funded a major research project at UNMC under the direction of Kevin Garvin, M.D., professor and chairman of orthopaedic surgery, and James O’Dell, M.D., professor, internal medicine, and chief of the rheumatology & immunology section. The project will establish the Ruth and Bill Scott Center for Outcomes Research, a center that will analyze the various treatments for people suffering from arthritis and requiring a joint replacement. It will be located in Poynter Hall at UNMC.

College of Medicine Dean John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., who was recruited in 2001 by Dr. Sorrell after a distinguished career at Harvard Medical School, as well as his native Australia, echoed Dr. Maurer’s sentiments. “Over the years, I have been exposed to a variety of wonderful and dedicated doctors. But, none match the qualities of Dr. Michael Sorrell,” he said. “There seems to be no limit to his loyalty to UNMC, his love of caring for patients, his enthusiasm for educating young colleagues, and his drive to advance medical knowledge through research.”

A 1957 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dr. Sorrell received his medical degree in 1959 from the UNMC College of Medicine. A native of Syracuse, Neb., Dr. Sorrell was a general practitioner in Tecumseh, Neb., from 1960 to 1966. He left to do a residency in internal medicine followed by a fellowship in gastroenterology, both at UNMC.

Following his residency training, Dr. Sorrell completed a one-year traineeship in cardiovascular medicine with the National Institutes of Health and a two-year National Institutes of Health traineeship in hepatic disease and nutrition at the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry, Newark. He joined the UNMC faculty in 1971 as an assistant professor in internal medicine and was elevated to associate professor in 1973 and professor in 1976.

He held several key leadership positions at both UNMC and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. For the VA, he served as chief of the section of gastroenterology-liver disease from 1973 to 1976 and as associate chief of staff/research from 1974 to 1982. In 1981, he was named chairman of the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, a post that he held for 10 years. When he decided to step down from the chairman’s position, he became medical director for the liver transplant program and chief of the section of gastroenterology/hepatology.

Dr. Sorrell received the University of Nebraska Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity (1980) and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Distinguished Service Award (1999). His research has been funded continuously for more than 30 years by the NIH and by the Veterans Affairs.

As a distinguished scientist and physician, Dr. Sorrell continues to work diligently for UNMC and is sought after by people from around the world for his expertise in gastroenterology. He has been selected by two leading publications – America’s Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America – as one of the top physicians in the country. In 2003, he was chosen as the Distinguished Professor of the Centennial at UNMC when the medical center celebrated 100 years of being part of the University of Nebraska.

He served as president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (1990-91) and as president of the International Liver Transplant Society (2002). Locally, he was inducted into the Ak-Sar-Ben Court of Honor in 2002.

During his career, Dr. Sorrell served as a consultant for numerous organizations including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He has been a visiting professor and invited lecturer at nearly 200 national and international universities, organizations, institutes, symposia and conferences. He has published more than 200 articles in peer reviewed journals and book chapters in a majority of the major medical text books in his specialty. In addition, he has co-authored five medical textbooks.

“I am truly humbled by this recognition,” Dr. Sorrell said. “Ruth and Bill Scott share the same passion for UNMC that I do. Their ongoing support will continue to elevate the medical center to new heights. It is an honor for me to have my name associated with this great couple.”

Naming a building after someone who is still alive requires approval from the Board of Regents. It is expected that the Center for Health Science Education will be completely funded by donor gifts. In addition to Ruth and Bill Scott, numerous other donors have contributed to the project, including Allan and Dianne Lozier through the Lozier Foundation, Stanley Truhlsen, M.D., The Nebraska Medical Center, UNMC Physicians, the Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Memorial Foundation, the UNMC College of Medicine Alumni Association and James Linder, M.D., associate vice chancellor for research at UNMC. Dr. Truhlsen and the Criss Foundation also were major donors to the Durham Research Center at UNMC, which opened two years ago.

Ruth and Bill Scott are both graduates of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ruth Scott is a bridge instructor and founder of the Omaha Bridge Studio. Bill Scott is a former vice president of Berkshire Hathaway.