Name: James O’Dell, MD
Medical school attended: UNMC
Location of your residency/fellowship training:
UNMC Internal Medicine;
UNMC chief resident;
University of Colorado rheumatology fellow
What residency/fellowship program at UNMC are you serving as program director for:
Internal medicine
Number of trainees: 80 residents
How long have you been the program director: 34 years
What made you chose to become the program director:
I went into academic medicine to teach. There is no better way to have a major impact at such a critical time on trainees than as a program director.
What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future:
As technology and a rapidly expanding knowledge base continues to assault doctors at every turn – the challenge is to model for our residents that medicine is a profession and not a job, and that it is all about caring for and about patients.
What are the strengths of your training program:
Clearly, the number one strength is our residents. How much they care about the program and each other make it special. Additionally, the support for education by our chair, the dean and Nebraska Medicine have been and will continue to be critical.
List some accomplishments that you are proud of:
I’m, of course, very proud that we led the nation for 15 years with a 100 percent ABIM pass rate and remain in the top 5 percent in the nation. That said, I’m most proud of the kind of people we train, and the amazing impact they have every day on so many patients throughout Nebraska and beyond.
Tell us three things about you that others may not know:
I’m a woodworker and enjoy making wood toys for the six grandkids; cheese boards, tables and fixtures for my kids’ stores; and have spent the last three summers in an oak tree building a major tree house for my grandsons.
My daughters own women’s clothing boutiques in Omaha and Lincoln – beyourself Boutique.
My son is part owner of Speilbound Board Game Café in Omaha – so I’m an "expert" on women’s clothing and board games.