Dele Davies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, has announced the appointment of four faculty to key positions. The appointments, which were effective July 1, included:
Howard Liu, M.D., director of UNMC Faculty Development Programs;
Susan Swindells, M.B.B.S., director of the UNMC Equity Office and Faculty Ombudsperson;
Rowen Zetterman, M.D., director of UNMC Faculty Mentorship; and
Pamela Carmines, Ph.D., assistant dean of graduate studies – assessment and engagement.
Drs. Liu and Swindells will be taking over from Myrna Newland, M.D., who retired on June 30 after 45 years of service to UNMC and 15 years in the role of director of faculty development programs.
Dr. Liu is a career educator and child psychiatrist. He serves as the psychiatry clerkship director in the College of Medicine and the medical director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska, a state-funded interprofessional education and workforce center.
He is interested in innovative e-learning and co-chairs a national task force of 11 medical schools developing simulated psychiatry cases for medical students. He also co-chairs the national Training & Education Committee for the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Swindells is a professor of internal medicine-infectious diseases. A native of England, she has been involved in HIV care since 1988. A clinician and active researcher, Dr. Swindells has many years of experience in translational and clinical research in the field of HIV/AIDS, with a special interest in tuberculosis co-infection.
She is part of the leadership of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group of the National Institutes of Health and works with international sites in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, South America and Haiti.
Dr. Zetterman is an internist, gastroenterologist and hepatologist, as well as a professor of internal medicine at UNMC. He is dean emeritus, Creighton University School of Medicine, and a former chief of staff for the Nebraska-Western Iowa VA Health Care System.
He has served in leadership positions as: president of the American College of Gastroenterology; chair of both the Board of Governors and the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians (ACP); president of the Metropolitan Omaha Medical Society; and president of the Nebraska Medical Association.
The goals of this newly created director position are to partner with UNMC colleges and institutes in:
- promotion of professional development and retention of faculty;
- facilitation of attainment of individual career goals at UNMC;
- enhancement of faculty job satisfaction;
- assisting of junior faculty in prioritizing and work-life balance needed for a successful academic career; and
- identification and institution of national best practices models in faculty mentoring.
Dr. Carmines is professor and vice chair for graduate education in the department of cellular & integrative physiology at UNMC. Her research has focused on regulation of the renal microcirculation and the deleterious impact of diabetes on renal vascular and epithelial function.
She has led the effort to develop a campuswide database to track student progress through their training at UNMC and into their careers. This ongoing project will serve as a springboard for several aspects of her new role in graduate studies.
The primary goals of this position are to assist the dean for graduate studies to:
- lead the development and implementation of a new Graduate and Postdoctoral Students Information Systems (GPSIS) as well as generating training grant tables and supporting program evaluations and accreditation;
- coordinate/facilitate communications related to graduate studies across a broad base — potential and current students, alumni, faculty and the general public;
- lead efforts to develop relationships with undergraduate institutions and increase the diversity of our students; and
- work with Alumni Relations and the newly formed UNMC Graduate Studies Alumni Chapter to coordinate outreach efforts aimed at engaging alumni.
Through world-class research and patient care, UNMC generates breakthroughs that make life better for people throughout Nebraska and beyond. Its education programs train more health professionals than any other institution in the state. Learn more at unmc.edu.