Lookin’ at U – Kim Klinetobe

Kim Klinetobe

Each Thursday, we randomly feature a medical center employee. This week, we learn more about:

• Name: Kim Klinetobe
• Hometown: Omaha
• No. of years at UNMC: 10

Tell us a bit about what you do here at UNMC.

I’m a non-therapeutic research coordinator with the division of adult oncology. I primarily work with the Nebraska Lymphoma Study group, but my job duties branch out into other areas of cancer research. I like to say I’m a “Jill of all trades” when it comes to non-therapeutic research.

Tell us of a time you witnessed an example of your favorite brand value at UNMC.

I witness “Commitment to Excellence” and “Working Together” every day in the way the oncologists and nurses care for our cancer patients. They consistently go above and beyond in patient care, and I think this helps patients keep up the strength to fight their disease. I’ve also witnessed this on the other side as floor nurses and internal medicine physicians gave great care to my father here when he was gravely ill with liver failure.

What are your favorite winter activities?
I love going to Christmas activities like the upcoming Christmas Market at Aksarben and looking at the holiday window displays in Midtown Crossing. Weather permitting, my husband and I also like to take long drives in the country and look at the winter wonderland.

List three things people may not know about you.

• My father was in the Air Force, so I spent the first seven years of my childhood in a small village in Germany named Ruthweiler. Back then, I spoke a variation of German that my mother dubbed “Genglish” but sadly I’ve lost all the German I knew.
• I love animals of all kinds, even the scary ones. I believe every creature is a little soul that deserves a chance to live, so I shoo bugs and critters out of my house as much as possible rather than killing them. I’m sure my neighbors think I’m nuts.
• Jane Goodall has been a lifelong idol of mine, and I met her, of all places, in Grand Island at a park off I-80. She and I were both there watching the crane migration. I was a very nervous, bumbling idiot because it was like meeting a rock star for me. Naturally the battery in my camera was dead.