Chair & senior vice president of clinical programs, Nebraska Medicine: David W. Mercer, M.D.
No. of people in the department (faculty/staff): 239 total
80 faculty
69 house officers
81 staff
8 Postdoctoral research associates
1 graduate assistant
128 volunteer faculty
New Faculty: (12 new faculty hires since July 1, 2014)
- Lisa Schlitzkus, M.D., assistant professor, division of general surgery, section of acute care surgery August 2014.
- Brian Jones, M.D., assistant professor, division of pediatric surgery, September 2014.
- Ina Kim, M.D., assistant professor, division of urologic surgery, January 2015.
- Timothy Kingston, M.D., associate professor, division of general surgery, January 2015.
- Jessica Summers, M.D., assistant professor, division of general surgery, section of acute care surgery, May 2015.
- Arika Hoffman, M.D., assistant professor, division of transplant surgery, July 2015.
- Chris Gillis, M.D., assistant professor, division of neurosurgery, July 2015.
- Tiffany Tanner, M.D., assistant professor, division of general surgery, section of acute care surgery, August 2015.
- HelenMari Merritt-Genore, M.D., assistant professor, division of cardiovascular surgery, August 2015.
- Christopher Deibert, M.D., assistant professor, division of neurosurgery, August 2015.
- Nicole de Rosa, M.D., assistant professor, division of surgical oncology, September 2015.
- James Padussis, M.D., assistant professor, division of surgical oncology, September 2015.
New Programs:
- Lung Transplant Program: set to start in FY 2016.
- M3 Surgery Clerkship Rural Rotation: Director Charity Evans, M.D. and Assistant Director Kim Schenarts, Ph.D., collaborated with UNMC General Surgery Residency alums Nicholas Boyle, M.D. and Andrew Reynolds, M.D. as well as UNMC College of Medicine alum Thomas Beutler, M.D. to initiate a rotation at their practices in Norfolk, Neb., as a part of the required third-year surgery clerkship.
- Thoracic Surgery Residency Program: approved and began July 1, 2015.
- Neuro-Endovascular Fellowship Program: approved and began July 1, 2015.
- Vascular Surgery Fellowship Program: approved and will begin July 1, 2016
- General Surgery Residency Program: approved for an increase in resident compliment from 4 to 5 per postgraduate year.
Significant research grants/publications:
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Three patents have been secured by two department faculty:
- Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D. – secured one patent
- Jason MacTaggart, M.D. – secured two patents
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For fiscal year 2014-15, faculty secured 34 awards totaling $5.2 million in total award dollars for the year, including:
- Mark Carlson, M.D. received an NIH grant and a grant from the State of Nebraska Department of Economic Development.
- Alexey Kamenskiy, Ph.D. and Jason MacTaggart, M.D. received an NIH R01.
- Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D. received DOD and NIH grants.
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Continued support dollars also are being secured for the current fiscal year 2015-16, including:
- Iraklis Pipinos, M.D. received a R01 NIH grant.
- Nora Sarvetnick, Ph.D. continues to direct the Regenerative Medicine Project for the university.
- B. Timothy Baxter, M.D. and Iraklis Pipinos, M.D. continue to participate on NIH study sections.
Other highlights:
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Samuel Cemaj M. D., associate professor, section of acute care surgery, directed the volunteer hernia repair day at Bellevue Medical Center on Feb. 27, 2015. Two colleagues also volunteered their time to perform the surgeries for 12 patients:
- Keely Buesing, M.D., assistant professor, section of acute care surgery
- Vishal Kothari, M.D., assistant professor, section of minimally invasive surgery
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Two surgery division chiefs serve as clinical program leaders for Nebraska Medicine:
- Michael Moulton M.D. for the Cardiovascular Program
- Sarah Thayer, M.D., Ph.D. for the Oncology Program
- Kim Duncan M.D. serves as the NSQIP Champion for Nebraska Medicine
- Initiated Summer Research Program for first-year medical students. The program supported five students in 2014, all funded by the department, and 11 in 2015, four of whom were funded by the department.
- Began discussion and planning for ESTARS (endovascular skills for trauma and resuscitative surgery) Project.
- Charity Evans, M.D., M.S., assistant professor, section of acute care surgery, founded the Nebraska Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. The chapter inducted 18 students, 6 residents, and 3 faculty for a total of 27 new members at the Omaha Press Club in May 2015.
- Kimberly Schenarts, Ph.D., professor of surgery, was honored with the Distinguished Educator Award by the Association for Surgical Education at the annual meeting in April 2015.
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Two University of Nebraska system-wide awards were bestowed upon surgery faculty:
- Chandra Are, M.D., professor, division of surgical oncology, received the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA).
- Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D., professor, section of minimally invasive surgery, received the Innovation, Development and Engagement Award (IDEA).
- David F. Mercer, M.D., Ph.D., professor, division of transplant, received the Hal and Beverly Maurer Scientific Achievement Award.
- Chandra Are, M.D., Professor, Division of Surgical Oncology, was appointed as the Jerald L. & Carolynn J. Varner Professor of Surgical Oncology & Global Health in March 2015.
- Chad LaGrange, M.D., associate professor & division chief, was recognized as the 2015 Young Urologist of the Year by the South Central Chapter of the American Urological Association (AUA) and also received the Davis Family Prize in Urology.
- The department established the Hodgson Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery Simulation Fund, from a generous donation from former Department Chair Paul E. Hodgson, M.D., which enables the department to further develop our wide breadth of surgical training skills labs.
- Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D., professor, section of minimally invasive surgery, received the SAGES Excellence in Medical Research Award.
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Several faculty serve as officers on national committees:
- P.J. Schenarts, M.D., professor & section chief, acute care surgery, as secretary for Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS).
- Alan Langnas, D.O., professor & division chief, transplant, as president of American Society of Transplant Surgery (ASTS).
- David W. Mercer, M.D., McLaughlin Professor & Chairman, as chair on two committees for the American Board of Surgery: the General Surgery Residency Committee and the Task Force Residency Redesign Committee.
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Redesign of the M3 and M4 curricula, improving student satisfaction and performance and launching the surgery clerkship to the second highest ranked clerkship in the college performed by:
- Charity Evans, M.D., M.S., assistant professor & M3 clerkship director
- Kim Schenarts, Ph.D., professor & assistant clerkship director
- Lisa Schlitzkus M.D., assistant professor & M4 clerkship director