Chancellor Harold M. Maurer M.D., and eight members of the UNMC leadership team, will visit six east-central and eastern Nebraska communities June 8 and 9. This is the seventh annual trip across Nebraska for the team.
From Aurora, Grand Island and Kearney on June 8, to Hastings, Columbus and Blair on June 9, the group will meet with community members during community receptions hosted by local businesses, colleges and hospitals. They also will visit with various community and business leaders and health professionals.
The purpose of the trip is to thank communities for their support, listen to the health care needs of the community, introduce members of the UNMC leadership team, and let people know UNMC leaders are accessible. Host communities will provide overviews about their communities and UNMC leaders will provide brief updates about UNMC’s progress toward its goal of becoming a world-class academic health sciences center.
Dr. Maurer said the trip is his favorite one of the year. “It’s a chance to visit with the people of the state and let them know what is happening at UNMC,” he said. “We make new friends and always learn a lot . We are interested in building healthier communities. Our educational, research and patient care efforts, everything we do, is done on behalf of Nebraskans.”
The leaders will talk about progress in the past year, including the recent opening of Durham Research Center II (DRC II) on the Omaha campus. The DRC II features 10 levels, 95 laboratories and 252,179 gross square feet. It houses researchers who bring in a combined $76.4 million in research funding.
UNMC’s research funding from external sources exceeds $82 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,600 highly skilled jobs in the state.
In May, Gov. Heineman signed a bill that provides operating funds for a soon-to-be constructed UNMC College of Nursing Northern Division in Norfolk, located on the Northeast Community College campus. It will be the college’s fifth location in Nebraska and will help ensure that communities in northeast Nebraska have enough nurses to care for their residents. Construction is expected to begin soon with a tentative opening date of August 2010.
Two other projects in the works include a new geriatric center, the Home Instead Center for Successful Aging, and a building to house the College of Public Health, called the Harold M. and Beverly Maurer Center for Public Health.
In the past year, UNMC has established and collaborated with international partners to provide faculty and student exchange programs with countries such as China, Russia and India.
Later this summer, a final report about Nebraska’s health workforce shortages will be available. The report will serve as a guide for state policy makers to predict the need and develop programs for future for health care professionals and to stay abreast of innovations in training.
Keith Mueller, Ph.D., director of the Nebraska Center for Rural Health Research, spearheaded the report. “Among the challenges are looming aging issues. If we act now, we can successfully deal with these issues,” said Dr. Mueller, who also is interim dean of the UNMC College of Public Health and will be part of the UNMC leadership visit.
Others joining Drs. Maurer and Mueller on the trip will be: Mike Leibowitz, Ph.D., director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute; John Reinhardt, D.D.S., dean, College of Dentistry; John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean, College of Medicine; Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing; Kenneth Cowan, M.D., Ph.D, director of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center; Courtney Fletcher, Pharm.D., dean of the UNMC College of Pharmacy; and Kyle Meyer, Ph.D., associate dean, School of Allied Health Professions.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources exceeds $82 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,600 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.
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