Last week, U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska visited UNMC to meet with university leaders and tour the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.
University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds, Ph.D., joined UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., and others to escort Sen. Fischer through the building, pointing out sites such as patient rooms, research labs and other areas. Don Mohlman, project manager, led the tour with Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the cancer center. UNMC Vice Chancellor for External Affairs Bob Bartee, James Linder, M.D., chief strategist for the University of Nebraska, and Mark Bowen, director of government relations for UNMC, also toured.
To see a photo album of Sen. Fischer’s visit, click here.
The visit was Sen. Fischer’s first to the cancer center site, although — with a brother who graduated medical school at UNMC — she is very familiar with the campus and its development through the years.
“This is going to be a wonderful facility,” she said of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. “It’s going to be a great facility for patients, for their families, for researchers, for doctors. I really like the idea of the collaboration that’s going to take place (between clinicians and researchers), and how the facility was designed to encourage that collaboration with the focus, obviously, on the patients.”
Sen. Fischer said UNMC plays a pivotal role in the state of Nebraska.
“For patients and families it’s important, but it’s also an economic engine for the state,” she said. “Not just for Omaha and the community surrounding it here, but also for the state of Nebraska, it has a big economic impact.
“In the future,” she added, “there is always new development and new opportunities that are going to take place. And I hope that I can be a part of those, especially when it comes to the Department of Defense and the things that UNMC is able to accomplish there.”