Click here to download photos of the five award winners.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center Alumni Association honored five individuals for contributions to their respective professions during the annual UNMC Alumni Reunion held Oct. 2-3 in Omaha.
More than 350 UNMC alumni from the colleges of medicine, nursing and pharmacy, and their guests attended the reunion. Alumni hailed from 35 states and represented classes ranging from 1953 through 2010.
Activities during Alumni Weekend include: walking tours of campus, a narrated Ollie the Trolley tour of Omaha, a welcome back lunch, a rare book room open house at the McGoogan Library, class parties across Omaha, continuing education, and the annual Celebration & Awards Banquet.
It was at the Celebration & Awards Banquet that the alumni chapters recognized the five award winners. The award recipients are listed below.
- James Newland, M.D., College of Medicine Alumni Chapter Distinguished Alumnus Award;
- Michael Feilmeier, M.D., College of Medicine Alumni Chapter Early Career Achievement Award;
- Philip Smith, M.D., College of Medicine Alumni Chapter Honorary Alumnus Award;
- Carol Swarts, M.D., College of Medicine Alumni Chapter Dedication to Student Excellence Award; and
- Barbara "Bobbi" Swenson, College of Nursing Alumni Chapter Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Here is additional background on the five award winners:
James Newland, M.D. (Class of 1965) – College of Medicine Alumni Chapter Distinguished Alumnus Award
James Newland graduated from the UNMC College of Medicine in 1965 after completing his undergraduate studies at the University of North Dakota. Upon graduating, he served in the United States Army from 1970-1972, working at hospitals in Seoul, Korea and Denver, Colorado.
In 1972 he joined UNMC as a staff physician, and he retired in 2002. During this tenure he served as the director of education in the department of pathology and microbiology, medical director of the division of medical technology, director of the second-year medical curriculum, and core director of gastrointestinal/genitourinary for second-year students.
He was instrumental in the lives of countless students at UNMC, sharing his knowledge with more than 3,500 medical students and additional students in physician assistant, perfusion, and physical therapy programs.
He quickly developed a reputation for his sense of humor in the classroom and students appreciated his unique teaching style, with an 85 percent emphasis on group discussions, leaving only 15 percent of class time spent on lecturing. The overwhelmingly positive response to his teaching style resulted in major changes to the College of Medicine curriculum, shifting the focus off of lectures and onto classroom discussions, laboratory experience, and problem-based learning sessions.
He has been recognized for his work by receiving the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award in 1996, the UNMC Basic Science Outstanding Teacher Award in 1997, and the Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, and 2002. In 2005 he was honored with the Outstanding Service to the Allied Health Professions Award.
Since retiring in 2002, Dr. Newland has remained involved in UNMC by serving on the College of Medicine Admissions Committee, serving as a faculty development facilitator, and by providing lectures on pathology, microbiology, and pathologic basis of disease.
Michael Feilmeier, M.D. (Class of 2005) – College of Medicine Alumni Chapter Early Career Achievement Award
Michael Feilmeier was exposed to the world of humanitarian health care as a medical student at UNMC. The most pivotal moment came during a month-long trip to Nepal where he witnessed surgical teams performing five-minute eye surgeries in remote mountain villages for the consumable cost of $20.
Dr. Feilmeier turned that inspiring moment into a lifelong commitment to help people who are most in need of eye care. Dr. Feilmeier obtained his undergraduate degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University. He went on to obtain his medical degree and graduated with high distinction from the UNMC College of Medicine.
Following medical school, Dr. Feilmeier trained in ophthalmology at the world-renowned Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (BPEI) at the University of Miami. Dr. Feilmeier went on to complete an additional year of surgical fellowship training in corneal transplantation and the prevention of global blindness at the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
Following his training, Dr. Feilmeier returned to Omaha. He serves as assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, where he is the founder and medical director of the Division of Global Blindness Prevention and Community Outreach at the Truhlsen Eye Institute.
He continues to pursue his passion to cure blindness both locally and abroad. He has provided eye care and trained eye surgeons in Haiti, India, Nepal, Ghana, Ethiopia, and the Dominican Republic. Locally, Dr. Feilmeier works with the Native American population to provide free eye care, and he performs free cataract surgery annually at his clinic at Midwest Eye Care.
Dr. Feilmeier is the current president of the Nebraska Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, and is an affiliated ophthalmologist with the Himalayan Cataract Project.
Recent awards and recognition include: 2015 Ten Outstanding Young People of the World, 2015 Ten Outstanding Young Americans, 2014 Ten Outstanding Young Omahans, 2013 Nebraska Wesleyan Young Alumni Achievement Award, and 2012 Midlands Business Journal 40 under 40 Award.
Philip W. Smith, M.D. – College of Medicine Alumni Chapter Honorary Alumnus Award
Philip Smith is a professor in the division of infectious diseases in the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine. He served as chief of infectious diseases at UNMC for 13 years. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles, manuscripts, chapters, several poems, and two books.
He is president of the board and founder of the award-winning Nebraska Infection Control Network. He received the Sir William Osler Teaching Award from the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, the Physician of Distinction Award from the Nebraska Medical Center in 2008, the Robert D. Sparks Award for Achievement in Public Health and Preventive Medicine from the UNMC College of Public Health in 2005, and the UNMC Distinguished Scientist Award in 2015.
He was invited to attend the Presidential State of the Union address and a White House ceremony recognizing caregivers of Ebola patients, both in 2015.
Dr. Smith is very active in bioterrorism preparedness efforts in Nebraska, serving as co-director of the Nebraska Center for Preparedness Education and medical director of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit. He is lead author on the consensus document on standards for biocontainment patient care units published in Biosecurity and Bioterrorism in 2006.
He developed the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, specifically designed to care for highly hazardous infectious diseases patients while maximizing health care worker safety. It was officially opened in 2005 by Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This unit was one of only three in the United States called upon in 2014 by the State Department to care for U.S. citizens who acquired the Ebola virus disease in Africa. The unit also has been extensively involved in the training of hospitals in the U.S. and abroad to prepare for Ebola virus disease patients. The Nebraska Biocontainment Unit team has received numerous honors, including being named Omaha World-Herald "Midlanders of the Year" for 2014.
Carol Swarts, M.D. (Class of 1959) – College of Medicine Alumni Chapter Dedication to Student Excellence Award
Carol Swarts graduated from the UNMC College of Medicine in 1959. She is in her fifth year as an instructor at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Ky., and she also holds an academic appointment as an adjunct assistant professor at UNMC.
Prior to these roles she served as a clinical instructor at the University of Cincinnati for 21 years. She has worked in private practice, as well as in positions at the Northern Kentucky Cancer Treatment Center in Ft. Thomas, Ky., and Good Samaritan Hospital and Christ Hospital, both in Cincinnati.
She has held leadership positions for a number of organizations including the National Cancer Institute, Hospice of Northern Kentucky, the American College of Surgeons, the American Cancer Society, the Kentucky Medical Association, the Kentucky Radiation Oncology Society, and the Kentucky Health Policy Board.
Dr. Swarts has utilized her expertise to serve and educate others through volunteer activities in the U.S. and abroad. She served as part of the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corporation in Natal, Brazil, Jodhpur, India, and Mud Creek, Ky., and she has traveled to Haiti, North Vietnam, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, and Ecuador as a part of her mission work.
In 2012, she created the Excellence in Basic Science Teaching Award to recognize outstanding basic science teachers in the UNMC College of Medicine and to honor three friends from medical school – Drs. Gretchen Berggren (class of 1958), Marilyn Myers, and Margaret Peterson (both class of 1959).
In addition, Dr. Swarts’ philanthropy to the UNMC SHARING Clinics has been instrumental in the clinics thriving and becoming a key clinical learning experience for students.
She has served on many medical societies, both on the national and state level. These include the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Brachytherapy Society. She has been recognized by America’s Top Oncologists.
At the state level, she served on the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine, the Kentucky Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Association, and the Northern Kentucky Medical Society.
Barbara "Bobbie" (Idt) Swenson (Class of 1965, B.S.N.) – College of Nursing Alumni Chapter Distinguished Alumnus Award
Barbara Swenson graduated from the UNMC College of Nursing in 1965. For the past 50 years, she has dedicated her life to pediatric care holding positions in Michigan, California, Washington and Oregon.
Swenson owns her own business, "A Parent Resource," which she started 18 years ago in Seattle. She and her husband, Ken, now live in Beaverton, Ore., and travel frequently to Chicago so they can be close to their two sons and their wives and their four grandchildren. Most of her clients continue to be based in the Seattle area.
A native of Hastings, Neb., Swenson is a 1961 graduate of Hastings High School. She is the daughter of the late George and Ruth Idt, who both died in the early 2000s. George was a laborer for Carmichael Construction Company in Hastings, and Ruth was a housewife who spent many hours ironing for other people to keep food on their table.
Swenson’s work with and for children has involved three main themes – direct care, teaching adults involved with children, and innovative program development for improved care of children.
Her work has revolved around delivering child and family-centered care in hospitals; participating in child abuse recognition, prevention and treatment programs on a local and national level; and providing parent education – from caring for a well-child or an acutely or chronically ill child to showing how to parent a child effectively for a lifetime.
Swenson has taught nursing students, staff nurses, specialty nurses, physicians, teachers, and parents how to give child-centered care. She has provided entrepreneurial ideas and leadership in developing institutional and community programs to improve the welfare of children.
The pinnacle of Swenson’s career has been to create a successful private practice in parent education, where she has taught parents in private consultation, ongoing support groups (some now in their 17th year of monthly meetings), and parent education groups in schools.
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