Dr. Maurer to receive Distinguished Alumni Award from alma mater

UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., will receive a Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from the school where he earned his medical degree — SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.

Harold M. Maurer, M.D.

A 1961 graduate, Dr. Maurer will be honored by SUNY Downstate Medical Center on May 21 as part of the 131st Anniversary Alumni Reunion at the Marriott NY at the Brooklyn Bridge.

“I had no idea that I was even being considered,” Dr. Maurer said. “What a wonderful surprise to be honored by my medical school alma mater.”

As chancellor, he has led UNMC through a period of tremendous growth. In his tenure, UNMC has constructed:

• The Durham Research Center and Durham Research Center II;
  
• The Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education;
  
• The Hixson-Lied Center for Clinical Excellence
  
• The Home Instead Center for Successful Aging;
  
• The Center for Nursing Science; and
  
• The soon-to-be-open Harold M. and Beverly Maurer Center for Public Health.

Also during Dr. Maurer’s time as chancellor, UNMC’s federal research funding has grown to $91.6 million/year from $19.7 million in 1999.

As dean of the College of Medicine, Dr. Maurer was instrumental in leading the merger of University Hospital and Clarkson Hospital to form The Nebraska Medical Center.

Below is a timeline of some highlights of Dr. Maurer’s career:

• 1968 — Joins faculty at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), now known as Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. While at MCV, he chaired a national study group that helped raise the cure rate of children with rhabdomyosarcoma — a highly-malignant childhood cancer — from 20 percent to 75 percent. He also served as MCV pediatrics chairman for 17 years.
  
• 1993 — Becomes dean of the UNMC College of Medicine.
  
• 1998 — Named UNMC Chancellor.
  
• 2003 — Receives the Children’s Oncology Group’s most prestigious honor — the Lifetime Achievement Award — for his leadership and contributions regarding rhabdomyosarcoma.
  
• 2010 — One of 15 members selected by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to serve on the National Health Care Workforce Commission, which in the face of health care reform will map out U.S. health care workforce needs to meet the increasing demands.