Fred Paustian, M.D., a pioneering physician in gastroenterology who helped build the University of Nebraska Medical Center into a leading center for treating liver disease and performing liver transplants, died Sunday in Omaha after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 87.
Dr. Paustian was the first specialty-trained gastroenterologist in Nebraska. Under his leadership, gastroenterology soon became one of UNMC’s top centers of excellence.
He recruited Michael Sorrell, M.D., as one of his gastroenterology fellows, and later Rowen Zetterman, M.D. Both became leading experts on liver disease in the country and were instrumental in the formation of the liver research unit as well as the eventual recruitment of the liver transplantation team at UNMC in 1985.
Now, nearly 30 years later, UNMC has become one of the leading solid organ transplant programs in the country.
“Fred was a real pioneer….one of the first full-time members in the department of internal medicine,” said Dr. Sorrell, who continues to practice as a professor in the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine. “He introduced rigorous medicine into the teaching environment. He was very analytical, and he took all the toughest cases. He was an all-round physician-scholar who wrote in all the key journals.
“He was very demanding, but fair. He would never ask you to do something that he wouldn’t do himself. He was a marvelous man, who was very loyal to the university and instrumental to its growth. He led by example.”
Dr. Paustian’s love for the university was demonstrated in his philanthropy, said John Niemann, Ed.D., senior vice president of the University of Nebraska Foundation. Dr. Paustian donated $1 million to establish an endowed chair in gastroenterology. In addition, he donated another million dollars to support a research fund in gastroenterology.
“Everything Fred did, he did for gastroenterology,” said Dr. Niemann, who noted that Dr. Paustian established a total of five funds. “Fred was a friend to many and admired by all. He was scholarly, a lifelong learner. Even after he retired from active practice, he would continue to go to Grand Rounds.
“He was unpretentious, one of the guys. He was one of the early gentlemen of medicine at UNMC – a graduate who became a legend and taught generations of students. His impact can’t be overstated.”
A 1953 medical school graduate of UNMC, Dr. Paustian did his internship, internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the Graduate Hospital, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He completed a second fellowship through the Louisiana State University Medical School studying tropical medicine and parasitology in Central America, Panama and Mexico.
He was recruited back to UNMC in 1958 to begin a professional career that included the instruction of more than 3,000 medical, nursing and graduate students.
Dr. Paustian was named assistant professor in 1961, associate professor in 1963 and professor in 1967. From 1980 to 1995, he held the dual post of associate dean for graduate medical education and continuing medical education. Working with students was his passion.
Much of the gastroenterology section’s success can be traced directly to Dr. Paustian, who worked tirelessly to build UNMC’s program. A typical workday for Dr. Paustian would begin at 7:30 a.m. and end around midnight. During the day, he would perform his administrative and academic duties for UNMC, then he would spend his evening seeing patients and doing rounds in the hospital.
One of Dr. Paustian’s major accomplishments was working with several other physicians to create the first medical practice plan at UNMC. It was a monumental task that took hundreds of hours of work and was vital in making UNMC an attractive place for academic-oriented physicians to practice medicine.
He was heavily involved in the assurance of quality in the internal medicine graduate education programs by heading the accreditation process for the programs. He developed programs in all aspects of post-graduate medical training for physicians as well as training and continuing education programs for family practitioners, internists and emergency room physicians.
Thanks to a gift from Omaha philanthropists Ruth and Bill Scott, the two primary amphitheaters in the Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education are named in honor of Dr. Paustian and his first wife, Mary Ann “Maisie” Paustian, who died in 2007 after 54 years of marriage. In addition, the seventh floor of the Durham Research Center II is named the Frederick F. Paustian, M.D., Gastroenterology Research Laboratories.
“Fred was actually the person who first suggested to Bill and me that we might like to make a contribution to UNMC when the first research tower was being built,” Ruth Scott said. “He was a great friend. I had the deepest admiration for him. He was devoted to his profession. He always used to say that ‘passion was what was important to life.’ He had a true passion for medicine.”
In 2006, he was one of the first five physicians to be named a “Legend of Medicine” by UNMC and its clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine. Dr. Paustian was designated a master in the American College of Physicians, the highest honor awarded members of the college.
He was a past president for the Metropolitan Omaha Medical Society and the Nebraska Medical Association and received the Distinguished Service to Medicine Award from the NMA. He also was very active in the American Society of Internal Medicine and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.
Survivors include his wife, Diane; sister, Eloise Anderson, The Villages, Fla.; four children: Cheryl (Rob) Robinson of Elkhorn, Neb.; Lynn (Rick) Watson of Golden, Colo.; Jim (Ann) Paustian of Kent, Wash.; and John (Stephanie) Paustian of Omaha. He is also survived by eight grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday at Roeder Mortuary, 2727 N. 108th St. The interment service will be at Forest Lawn Cemetery at 10 a.m. on Friday followed by a memorial service at Dundee Presbyterian Church, 5312 Underwood Ave., at 11 a.m.
Memorials are suggested to Dundee Presbyterian Church or Metropolitan Omaha Medical Society Foundation.
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 and follow us on social media.
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