UNMC’s Coburn receives Excellence in Medicine Leadership Award
UNMC’s Brian Coburn, a third-year medical student, is a recipient of a 2017 Excellence in Medicine Leadership Award from the American Medical Association Foundation. The award was given as part of the AMA Foundation’s Excellence in Medicine Awards program on June 9 during the AMA annual meeting in Chicago. Coburn has served as co-president of UNMC's SHARING Clinics, student-run free health clinics, and also has served as the national coordinator for the Society of Student-Run Free Clinics, helping it become an independent nonprofit organization. He now serves on its board of directors. The AMA Foundation’s Excellence in Medicine Awards program recognizes physicians who exemplify the highest values of volunteerism, community engagement, leadership and dedication to the care of underserved populations.
Dr. Harrison receives Wigton Award for residency, GME efforts
Family Medicine Rural Track Residency Program Director Jeffrey Harrison, M.D., received the Robert S. Wigton Most Valuable Program Director Award for leading an outstanding residency or fellowship program and making significant contributions to UNMC’s institutional graduate medical education (GME) efforts. The award is named for Robert Wigton, M.D., who worked at UNMC for more than 40 years and served many years as associate dean for GME. Chandra Are, M.B.B.S., associate dean of graduate medical education, and Vicki Hamm, administrative director of graduate medical education, presented the award to Dr. Harrison at the Family Medicine Resident Graduation Banquet at Lauritzen Gardens on Sunday, June 25.
Conoan now certified electron microscopy technician
Nick Conoan in the Electron Microscopy Core Facility at UNMC has passed the written and practical exams given by the Microscopy Society of America. He is now a certified electron microscopy technician, the highest level of certification in electron microscopy. Now, both electron microscopy specialists in the UNMC core facility are CEMTs. No other facility in the area is staffed exclusively by CEMTs. Tom Bargar, who has been the senior technician in the core for almost 20 years, is the other CEMT at UNMC. Bargar has helped train Conoan over the years.
Dr. Gendelman honored for humanitarian work
Howard Gendelman, M.D., professor and chair of the UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Jewish Federation of Omaha at a ceremony on June 5. Read a story on Dr. Gendelman from the Jewish Press.
Dr. Sparks named to Children's Hospital & Medical Center post
John Sparks, M.D., professor and chair of the UNMC Department of Pediatrics, has been appointed pediatrician-in-chief for Children's Hospital & Medical Center.
Pediatric awards announced
David Finken, M.D., clinical assistant professor, general pediatrics, and Teri Mauch, M.D., Ph.D., professor, pediatric nephrology, received the Hobart E. Wiltse, M.D., Ph.D. Excellence in Medical Education Awards this year.
During Dr. Wiltse's tenure at UNMC, he became known as one of the outstanding educators on campus, influencing many students to pursue pediatrics as a career. His Socratic approach to medical education, combined with a zest for analyzing clinical problems by re-introducing relevant basic science concepts, impacted not only medical students but also house officers. This approach to medical education has been modeled by many educators on the UNMC campus – many of whom learned this style from Dr. Wiltse, who died in 2007.
Other award winners included:
Carl Gumbiner, M.D., received the Hobart Wiltse Medical Educator Laureate Award to recognize his commitment and enthusiasm that he has given to not only the pediatric patients he has cared for all these years, but also the dedication he has shown to education and training of medical students, residents, and fellows. This award recognizes his sustained commitment to education by improving learning pediatric medicine through delivery of outstanding educational experiences, advocacy for learners, and providing mentoring and guidance to faculty, staff and trainees in medical education.
Christopher Park, M.D., received the Debra Munson Barger Resident Award, which is given to an outstanding house officer who is a team player and exhibits the unselfish dedication to the welfare of children that characterized Dr. Barger's short, but productive life.
Matthew S. Douglass, D.O., received the Dr. George Miyzakai Award, which recognized his commitment to conducting research throughout his residency.
Medical Student Teaching Award winners included:
· Nathan Gollehon, M.D. – Faculty Teaching Award
· Agnes Gomes, M.D. – Community Preceptor Teaching Award
· John Andresen, M.D. – Omaha Community Preceptor Teaching Award
· Erin Schmitz, M.D. – Resident Teaching Award
Dr. Kugler receives Lifetime Achievement Award from pediatric cardiology group
John Kugler, M.D., professor, pediatric cardiology, has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES). The award recognizes long-standing excellence in leadership, innovation, research and commitment to patient care in children and congenital heart disease patients with cardiac rhythm disturbances.
The competitive award is open to providers who have dedicated a large portion of their career to the field of pediatric and congenital cardiac rhythm disturbance management.
Anderson paper earns runner-up award from Honda
David Anderson, a graduate student in the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences, has been named a 2017 Honda Outstanding Student Paper Award runner-up. The award, sponsored by American Honda Motor Company, Inc., was presented last month at the Driving Assessment Conference in Manchester Village, Vt. Anderson’s paper presented a new method for assessing visual field loss in a panoramic simulated driving environment with an authentic automotive cab. The conference is focused on providing an interdisciplinary forum for scientific exchange between users of driving assessment tools, applications and technology. Attendees include researchers and practitioners working on applications of driving assessment from the perspective of engineering, psychology, medicine and public health.
UNMC pathology resident named to 40 Under Forty list by ASCP
Jesse Cox, M.D., Ph.D., a third-year resident in pathology/microbiology, is one of 40 high-achieving pathologists, pathology residents, and medical laboratory professionals under age 40 who have been named to the prestigious 2017 40 Under Forty list by the American Society for Clinical Pathology.
The program recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the pathology profession and stand out as the future of laboratory leadership.
Dr. Cox has been actively involved in cancer and clinical research with more than 15 peer-reviewed publications to date. He also is active in the UNMC Makers Club and has developed a 3D-printed smartphone microscope mount to facilitate the digital capture of photomicrographs.
"ASCP’s 40 Under Forty program is an opportunity to recognize the next generation of pathology and medical laboratory leaders from around the globe," said ASCP President William E. Schreiber, M.D., FASCP. "By providing support and encouragement to these young professionals, we aim to strengthen the medical laboratory workforce during this period of historic change in health care delivery. We are very fortunate to have such a talented group of individuals – they will help to shape the future of patient care."
The 40 honorees will each have the opportunity to share their knowledge about topics pertinent to pathology and laboratory Medicine with a blog platform on ASCP’s ONELab website.
Later this summer, ASCP will select the top five individuals from the 40 honorees. The five selectees will each receive free registration to attend the ASCP 2017 Annual Meeting in Chicago, along with a $1,000 stipend toward airfare and lodging. In addition, the winners will receive free enrollment in Lab Management University, a collaborative educational initiative of ASCP and the American Pathology Foundation.
Founded in 1922 in Chicago, ASCP is a medical professional society with more than 100,000 member board-certified anatomic and clinical pathologists, pathology residents and fellows, laboratory professionals, and students. ASCP provides excellence in education, certification, and advocacy on behalf of patients, pathologists, and laboratory professionals.
Dr. Zucker lab hosts Undergraduate Summer Research Fellow
Andi Zhang, one of the 24 Fellows in the 2017 Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship (UGSRF) program through the American Physiological Society (APS), is spending her summer in the research laboratory of Irving H. Zucker, Ph.D., professor and chair of the UNMC Department for Cellular/Integrative Physiology.
A 2016 graduate of Omaha Burke High School, Zheng plans to attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the fall.
Fellowship recipients spend the summer in the laboratory of an established scientist and APS member. The UGSRF program recruits undergraduate students worldwide. Fellows are selected based on academic merit, the quality of the proposed experience and the availability of appropriate faculty mentors. Fellows must have fewer than nine months of research experience in a lab to be eligible. Special consideration is given to applicants whose socioeconomic background, access to educational opportunities and other life experiences suggest they would especially benefit from this type of program.
Each Fellow receives a $4,000 stipend during their 10-week research experience and an additional $1,300 in travel funds to present his or her research at the APS annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2018 in San Diego, which is expected to attract nearly 14,000 attendees. Research hosts receive $300 for student lab supplies.
UGSRF Fellows will participate in hands-on research and learn to develop a hypothesis, design and troubleshoot experiments, collect and analyze data, and write and present results. In addition, Fellows will have the opportunity to:
— network with other APS Fellows interested in and conducting biomedical or basic research;
— explore the nature of research and the scientific process;
— investigate physiology career options and what it takes to find career success;
— learn about scientific writing and draft a meeting abstract;
— learn about common ethical issues in figure and text preparation; and
— pose their career questions to members of the APS Advisory Board and APS Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee.
UNMC College of Medicine ranks No. 49 among most affordable medical schools
The UNMC College of Medicine ranks No. 49 in a list of the most affordable medical schools compiled from a study conducted by Student Loan Hero.
The average student debt at UNMC is $162,638, which is slightly under the national average of $164,800.
Student Loan Hero ranked 110 U.S. medical schools for the study. Rankings were determined by three factors:
1. Level of indebtedness for medical school graduates;
2. Annual in-state tuition to attend the medical school full-time; and
3. Percentage of students receiving institutional aid in the form of scholarships or grants.
All data was sourced from the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the Best Medical Schools.
Faculty training available on UNMC Digital Campus Initiative
A five-part training series is being offered between August and December as part of the UNMC Digital Campus Initiative.
The series is designed to allow faculty to enhance the educational experience of our students and enhance creativity in the classroom, while also enabling the active learning that many of millennial students value.
The primary goals of the initiative are:
· to facilitate anytime, anywhere mobile learning;
· enhance the quality of learning through the use of electronically available and developed resources;
· enable the integration and cross-utilization of educational materials; and
· reduce paper and printing costs.
The series will be available to 60 faculty members from multiple units on campus in five, two-hour sessions spread over four months. Faculty are asked to commit to attending each of the five content sessions, which will be held on the UNMC Omaha campus.
Faculty are asked to bring their own devices – laptop and/or tablet. Apple products are not required but are recommended. Several Apple devices will be made available for use during the training. Participants wishing to borrow these devices should notify the instructors.
The three instructors are:
· Faye Haggar, Ed.S., instructional designer, anesthesiology;
· Marty Magee, instructional design librarian, McGoogan Library of Medicine; and
· Mike Dierks, workstation specialist, information technology services.
The sessions will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays (with one exception) with faculty having a choice between morning and afternoon sessions. The location of the sessions is still being determined.
Here is a rundown of the session dates and content:
· Session 1 (Aug. 22 a.m./Aug. 24 p.m.) – Creating digital curriculum;
· Session 2 (Sept. 19 a.m./Sept. 21 p.m.) – My students have iPads, now what?;
· Session 3 (Oct. 17, a.m./Oct. 19 p.m.) – Remote presenting;
· Session 4 ( Nov. 14 a.m./Nov. 16 p.m.) – Tips and tricks for digital learning; and
· Session 5 (Dec. 13 a.m./Dec. 14 p.m.) – Cloud storage and notetaking.
The series is supported by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. If you have any questions, please contact Haggar or McGee.