Student spotlight – Adrian Epstein

Education is one of the four pillars of UNMC’s mission and our students are the lifeblood of that aspect of campus life.

In UNMC Today’s Student Spotlight, we get to know some of these students, who will become tomorrow’s health care professionals.

Today we meet Adrian Epstein, a second-year graduate student.

Name: Adrian Epstein
Hometown: St. Louis, Mo.
Year/Program: Second year graduate student; M.D./Ph.D. Scholars Program

Adrian Epstein with the high resolution MRI that he uses in his research on small animals. The MRI is three to four times stronger than the MRIs used on humans in the clinical setting.

I have too many to name just one, so I’ll mention a few:

• Visits by the library staff while studying in McGoogan library
  
• Having teachers who remember my name and stop to say hello
  
• Creating lifelong friendships with classmates
  
• Being surrounded by people from different cultures and backgrounds
  
• Having research mentors who care
  
• Watching thunderstorms roll in from the 8th floor of the Durham Research Center

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.

The value of teamwork is epitomized by UNMC. This is demonstrated across the board from the camaraderie among my medical school classmates to the collaborations between research laboratories — the environment at UNMC is one of a kind. When I came to UNMC, the Bio-Imaging Laboratory run by Dr. Mike Boska and the interdisciplinary collaborations with Dr. Howard Gendelman had a lasting impression on me. The accomplishments by these two labs model the importance of teamwork and the potential of interdisciplinary work when experts come together from entirely different backgrounds and combine their talents. I feel fortunate to be a student in an institution like UNMC where teamwork is not only the norm — it is expected.

List three things people may not know about you.

• I like to race my 1986 Hobie Catamaran sailboat on Lake Manawa in the summer.
  
• Before coming to UNMC, I tutored a young autistic boy and taught him how to swim laps and ride horses. Nobody (family and therapists) believed he could learn to do these activities independently!
  
• During my second winter in Omaha, I built an “aeroponic” garden in my apartment to liven up the cold snowy winter. I was harvesting basil, tomatoes and habanero peppers every three weeks!