June was a month with important celebrations in the life of the department. We recognized residents finishing their training with us, two long-time faculty retiring and achieving emeritus professor status (Drs. Kessinger and Schafer), and the amazing leadership of Dr. Jane Potter for 36 years as division chief for the geriatrics/gerontology division.
July brings many new beginnings. We start a new academic year and welcome new residents, fellows, and faculty. Dr. Al Fisher joins us as the new division chief for geriatrics, gerontology and palliative care and we are excited to have him on our team. Dr. Dan Anderson will take over as the Acting Chief of cardiovascular medicine when Dr. Richard Gumina departs for The Ohio State University in late July. I am very grateful for all Dr. Gumina has contributed to UNMC. The new academic year is an opportunity to reflect upon and commit ourselves to our goals aligned with the UNMC mission to transform lives to create a healthy future through premier educational programs, innovative research and extraordinary patient care. Our faculty continue to help create the new medical student curriculum as it enters the clinical years. In this newsletter, you will learn more about new clinical programs (autoimmune lung clinic and a partnership between endocrinology and orthopedics) and see examples of how clinical groups in cardiovascular medicine and DEM are achieving excellence. You will also catch a glimpse of some of the innovative research our faculty are leading. Regarding research, we are excited to have 18 undergraduate students with us this summer participating in clinical and bench research projects. On August 9, you will have an opportunity to view posters that will highlight what they learned this summer. These students are part of our future. We have good examples of former SURP students who came to medical school and eventually joined our faculty.
For those who would like, you have a special opportunity to contribute to the University of Nebraska Foundation to the Jarrod Dye Memorial Resident Wellbeing Fund until July 15th. Contributions will be matched dollar for dollar up to $30,000 from the department and from Nebraska Medicine. Our goal is to raise $30,000 from contributions which will give us a total of $90,000 to be used over the next 10 years for activities to promote wellness as guided by the resident wellness council.
Enjoy summer with more hours of sunshine and activities with family and friends. Be safe – our people are the most valuable asset of the department!