We welcome 2017 and the adventures that lie ahead in this year. I hope that you each had some time for relaxation with family and friends in the recent holiday season. A big thank you to those who were responsible for patient care on the days and nights of the holidays!
This newsletter contains some of the department’s 2016 highlights including that we have welcomed a new Chief of the Cardiovascular Medicine Division, Dr. Vince Pompili. In addition, the Rheumatology Division had an absolutely stellar showing in terms of both presentations and awards received at the annual American College of Rheumatology meeting in November. I hope other divisions that might have noteworthy accomplishments at national meetings will make sure we know so we can also feature your good work.
In 2017, we will continue to recruit new leaders to the Department. Earlier this year, Dr. Jane Potter, Chief of Geriatrics, and more recently, Dr. Mark Mailliard, Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, have announced their desire to step down as chiefs. Both will continue in their roles while we search for new chiefs and will remain on faculty after that. I am very grateful to each of them for their ongoing leadership! If you have connections to potential candidates for either position, please be sure to contact me as our search committees work with a search firm on these recruitments.
Among the UNMC 2016 awards that were recently announced and will be celebrated on January 17th are the UNMC Distinguished Scientist Awards. Dr. Mark Mailliard and Dr. Kaleb Michuard were selected for campus wide recognition. Congratulations to them! You will see more about these awards in UNMC Today in next several days.
We are also glad that several members of the department have been inducted into the UNMC Interprofessional Academy of Educators. Please take a moment to see which of your colleagues are in this group and to reach out to them with your questions about the Academy and how it might be of service to you in your educational work.
We continue to welcome new faculty to our department and I hope you will take a moment to learn a bit about these new colleagues and have opportunities to interface with them.
The residency program has nearly finished another very busy recruiting season. We have interviewed some excellent candidates from both UNMC and other medical schools across the country. A big thank you to our program directors, our education administrative staff and Chief Residents, and all the faculty and residents who have participated! We look forward to seeing who will join us in July when we learn the results of the match in March.
All the best in 2017! As I mentioned at the annual Internal Medicine faculty meeting in November, a favorite quote of mine these days is an Old Quaker saying “Let your life speak.” I look forward to seeing the many ways this will happen for our faculty, trainees, and staff in the year ahead.