The Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures will honor UNMC Chancellor Emeritus Harold M. Maurer, M.D., and his wife, Beverly, at its annual tribute luncheon, to be held April 28 at the Happy Hollow Club.
Dr. Maurer recently transitioned from chancellor to a fundraising role for the new Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center working for the University of Nebraska Foundation.
During his tenure, UNMC’s external research funding tripled, with research dollars now at $94.3 million annually. Among his other accomplishments as chancellor, Dr. Maurer secured $14 million annually in tobacco settlement funds from the state to support biomedical research; created a vice chancellor for research position; developed programs in regenerative medicine, nanomedicine, drug delivery and bioterrorism preparedness; and raised close to $1 billion in philanthropy for the medical center.
Beverly Maurer is a former school principal, serves on numerous civic boards, including the Joslyn Museum and the Omaha Community Playhouse and is a community volunteer working to strengthen the relationships between the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the community. While Dr. Maurer was chancellor, she assisted with recruiting, orchestrating functions, and fundraising at UNMC.
It was Beverly, with a handful of others in 2001, who saw a need for an organization supporting open and free research in the state of Nebraska and who founded Nebraskans for Research, the organization which joined with and became The Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures.
“There isn’t another couple in town who has worked as hard as Hal and Beverly in their support of research at UNMC,” said Richard “Dick” Holland, chairman of the board of the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures. “It’s an honor for me to call them my friends.”
The event also will feature Jennifer Larsen, M.D., vice chancellor of research at UNMC, who will give an update on the current status of research at the medical center.
The luncheon is open to the public. Reservations may be made online here.