Dr. Schenarts honored as distinguished educator

Kimberly Schenarts, Ph.D., professor of surgery, received the 2015 ASE Distinguished Educator Award from the Association for Surgical Education. The award is the highest surgical teaching award given by the ASE and is given annually to an individual who has attained national prominence and demonstrated excellence as a master teacher and educator.

Kimberly Schenarts, Ph.D.

With ASE, Dr. Schenarts served as the organization’s president in 2004-2005 and also served on its foundation board of directors. She worked on the program, curriculum and awards committees and was a member of its grants review board.

Since 2008, Dr. Schenarts has served as director of the Surgical Education Research Fellowship (SERF) program, a one year, home-site fellowship designed to equip investigators with the skills and knowledge needed to plan, implement and report research studies in the field of surgical education.

Participants include surgical faculty, residents, and fellows. In that role, she has guided and mentored 107 faculty and residents — half the number of fellows who have participated in SERF since its inception in 1995.

Dr. Schenarts received the ASE award in April as part of Surgical Education Week activities at the ASE Annual Banquet in Seattle.

“This a real feather in the cap for Dr. Schenarts to receive this award,” said David W. Mercer, M.D., professor and chair of the UNMC Department of Surgery. “Kim has been a leader in surgical education wherever she has gone.”

Dr. Schenarts earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from Michigan State University, where she worked closely with her father, Richard Dean, M.D., former chairman of surgery at MSU. Dr. Dean was a founding member of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) and also received the ASE Distinguished Educator Award during his career.

In 2012, she was recruited to UNMC along with her husband, P.J. Schenarts, M.D., who is vice chair of academic affairs and chief of acute care surgery.