COM Student of the Month – Andrew Keralis, fourth-year medical student

Andrew Keralis

Editor’s Note: Each month, InterCOM will highlight a “Student of the Month” from the College of Medicine. Students will be featured for their participation in activities outside of medical school and for making a difference in the community. The goal is to recognize students for what they are doing and to encourage other students to get involved in the community. After all, medical school should be much more than studying.  

Personal:

I was born and raised in Lincoln, where I learned the value of hard work, Runza, and Husker football. The Taco Inn too. I attended undergrad at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, majoring in biochemistry. 

During these years I played trombone and baritone for Nebraska football, volleyball, and men’s & women’s basketball – this was back in the pre-Pinnacle Bank Arena dark ages when the volleyball team played at the Coliseum and the basketball teams called Bob Devaney Sports Center home. 

I also earned a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force through Air Force ROTC Detachment 465. I recently returned to Omaha following away ER rotations at Wright Patterson AFB and Fort Sam Houston, and I am hoping to eventually work for the Air Force as an ER doc.

Activities:

  • Emergency Medicine Interest Group;
  • Clinical research with UNMC Department of Emergency Medicine;
  • 3rd grade classroom tutor/mentor at Liberty Elementary School (OPS);
  • M1 and M2, TarWars;
  • Ready Set Fit;
  • Published and presented at Society for Academic Emergency Medicine annual meeting in 2013.

Hobbies:

  • Instrumental music,
  • marksmanship,
  • fitness.

Staying Balanced:

Weekly bible study with friends and fellow young professionals from across Omaha – this helps remind me that there’s more to this world than the confines of the hospital.

List three things people may not know about you: 

  1. I don’t drink coffee, tea, or alcohol. And I’m not a Mormon (the usual follow-up question). Diet Coke is my drug of choice, and I don’t have the time or money to spend on any other chemical dependencies.
  2. I have lived on three different continents and visited two more.
  3. My favorite TV show (by far) is “Scrubs.” Situations from the show play out in the real hospital on a shockingly frequent basis.
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