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Ben Greenfield | Connie Ryan |
This week, UNMC Today will run short profiles on some of the alums who are returning to UNMC for this inaugural event, having been honored with departmental awards.
Here are the seventh and eighth of eight honorees who will be profiled this week in UNMC Today.
Ben Greenfield
Clinical Perfusion program Distinguished Alumnus Award
Ben Greenfield, a clinical perfusionist, has done more than just perform in more than 2,000 heart surgeries and 1,500 orthopedic and neurosurgeries since graduating from UNMC.
He’s also lobbied in the Unicameral and sits as the government liaison for perfusion in the Nebraska legislature. As president of the Nebraska Perfusion Society, he helped write Nebraska’s state licensure law.
Greenfield is also on the State of Nebraska Board of Medicine and Surgery, as a representative who will help oversee dental anesthesia licensing.
He has continued to research and publish, and he serves as an adjunct professor of perfusion at UNMC, as a clinical instructor and liaison for students. He is director of operations and a clinical perfusionist at Heme Management in Lincoln.
Clinical perfusionists operate the heart and lung machine and provide anesthesia for heart surgery.
Connie Ryan
Clinical Laboratory Science alumni chapter Distinguished Alumnus Award
Connie Ryan earned a medical technology degree (now CLS) at UNMC in 1974. After working at UNMC as a med tech, she joined the family business, Streck, in 1982. She became its president 10 years later and has overseen consistent, steady growth ever since.
During Ryan’s tenure, Streck, which develops and manufactures products for clinical and research laboratories, has made key acquisitions and introduced 45 new products.
She serves on boards for Creighton University, the Omaha Community Foundation and NUtech Ventures, and in 2011 served as a member of the Strategic Command Consultation Committee. She is a former chair of the Salvation Army Tree of Lights campaign.
She also follows the family tradition of giving back to UNMC. Under her leadership, Streck has donated hematology control samples to the UNMC CLS program for 15 years. It’s been integral to learning for the department’s students.