Dr. Lydiatt named Outstanding Teacher

William Lydiatt, M.D., with resident Catherine Craig, M.D. Dr, Lydiatt will receive an Outstanding Teacher Award Tuesday at the annual faculty meeting.

To say teaching is in William Lydiatt’s blood is an understatement.

His grandfather was a superintendent of schools, his father is a principal of an elementary school and his brother is vice principal of a school in Kearney.

Not to mention his grandmother, mother and sister are all elementary school teachers.

“For me, teaching has been a large part of my life,” said the head and neck surgeon and division director of head and neck surgical oncology in the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, at UNMC.

Faculty meeting broadcast Tuesday’s Annual Faculty Meeting with be broadcast on Net 2, Channel 102, to the following locations: UNK, West Center Room 144; UNL, College of Nursing, Room 304; UNL, College of Dentistry, Dixon Hall; and Scottsbluff, Panhandle Station, Room 205.

“Plus, I enjoy working with the younger physicians and medical students,” Dr. Lydiatt said. “It keeps me sharp. It keeps me current on the latest research in the field.”

For his commitment to teaching, Dr. Lydiatt will be recognized with one of two Outstanding Teaching Awards at the annual faculty meeting on April 24.

“It’s really an honor to be recognized by your peers,” Dr. Lydiatt said.

All seven of his nominators wrote about Dr. Lydiatt’s commitment to teaching in each of their letters. They wrote about his willingness to help others, his high regard for ethics and the care he takes with his patients.

One student summed it up best when he wrote: “To be an outstanding teacher, there is no question that you have to be an outstanding human being and Dr. Lydiatt is just that.”

Facts about Dr. Lydiatt Dr. Lydiatt: is professor and division director, Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, UNMC; graduated in 1988 with a medical degree from UNMC, completed his general surgery internship in 1989 at UNMC, as well as his otolaryngology residency in 1993 and complete a fellowship in head and neck surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York in 1995; and is married to Kathy Lydiatt and together they have three children Maxwell, Joey and Samantha.

Dr. Lydiatt is well known by his colleagues and students he teaches for the ethical principles he follows in everything he does.

“Ethics are vitally important,” Dr. Lydiatt said. “You always have to keep analyzing your actions and thoughts to make sure you are always doing things for the right reasons and in the best interest of your patient.”

Dr. Lydiatt said he considers it an honor and a privilege to work with people at one of the most vulnerable and critical times in their lives.

His patients have taught him a lot, Dr. Lydiatt says.

“Courage and fortitude. It’s the things that I’ve seen and learned from my patients that I try to point out to my students,” he said.

Dr. Lydiatt said these attributes were captured in artist Mark Gilbert’s “Saving Faces,” exhibit, which was on display in Omaha in 2006.

The exhibit so impressed Dr. Lydiatt, that he was overjoyed at the opportunity to help Virginia Aita, Ph.D., bring Gilbert back to Omaha for a series of workshops designed to teach medical students how to better observe a patient. Participants enhance their observation skills through drawings and poetry with the help of former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser of Garland, Neb.

“Mark and Ted have done an amazing job,” Dr. Lydiatt said. “It’s a great way to explore the many facets of medicine.”