Lookin’ at U – Naava Naslavsky

Each Thursday, we randomly feature a medical center employee.

This week, we learn more about Naava Naslavsky, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology.

Naava Naslavsky

• Name: Naava Naslavsky
  
• Hometown: Kibbutz Givat-Oz (Israel)
  
• No. of years at UNMC: eight

What is your best memory from your time at UNMC?

Exactly a year ago, a 30-year-old patient and his mother from Israel came to Omaha for a liver transplant at The Lied Transplant Center at UNMC. Neither spoke English. I met them two days after his surgery and immediately observed a serious communication gap with the hospital staff due to a language barrier. From that day on, I frequented their hospital-room every single day, often twice, to support them, translate and express to the staff their questions and concerns.

Our four brand values are leadership, commitment to excellence, working together and being a trusted resource. Pick one and tell us a time you witnessed it embodied at UNMC.

During the patient’s long and very painful recovery, I became amazed at the seriousness, professionalism and commitment the staff of transplant center exhibited on a daily basis. The hospital excelled in its organization, efficiency and thoughtfulness to a degree I never witnessed before. Though I work on campus and am just a few minutes’ walk from the hospital, our “world” in biomedical research differs substantially from the one I got to know from a patient’s point of view.

List three things people may not know about you.

• In my spare time, I make paper mache sculptures that are exhibited and sold at the “Blue Pomegranate Art Gallery” in Omaha.
  
• I was a gymnast through my teen years and participated in many competitions. After my body grew, and betrayed me, I resorted to modern dance, which never provided the same excitement as a good flick-flack — a string of backflips.
  
• I grew up in a kibbutz, a small community of 500 people. … We had our own “children’s home” in the kibbutz, where we studied, ate and slept together. I used to see my parents four hours a day and on weekends until I was 18 years old.