Dinner honors Mark Mailliard, M.D., for tenure as GI chief
A dinner was held on Nov. 15 to honor Mark Mailliard, M.D., who stepped down this year as the chief of the UNMC Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Dr. Mailliard, who has held the position since 2004, will remain on staff in the division. Acting division chief Fedja Rochling, M.D., spoke at the event, as well as Deb Romberger, M.D., chair of the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, and Marco Olivera-Martinez, M.D., associate professor in the division.
“In his role as division chief, Dr. Mailliard created a wonderful legacy that includes recruitment of multiple faculty, the opening of Village Pointe Endoscopy Center, expansion of the division’s fellowship program, and support for the VA Liver Study Unit,” Dr. Romberger said. “During that same time, he led clinical trials for hepatitis C, was recognized as a top teacher, and was a busy clinician. The department is grateful for his service and looks forward to his ongoing contributions as a faculty member.”
More than 80 guests attended the event, which was held at the Omaha Field Club.
Campus community invited to join in Fostering the Future’s blanket-making effort
On Dec. 5, the campus community is invited to join UNMC students to make fleece tie blankets for local organizations and children transitioning into foster care.
Nursing students in UNMC’s Fostering the Future and community volunteers will make blankets from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the College of Nursing’s Center for Nursing Science building, Room 3003, on the Omaha campus. The campus community is invited to attend for any duration of time.
Blankets will be given to such organizations as the Siena/Francis House, Omaha Police Department, Ronald McDonald House and Project Harmony.
Dr. Goldsweig Named American College of Cardiology Chapter Governor
Andrew Goldsweig, M.D., interventional cardiologist, Nebraska Medicine, and assistant professor of cardiology and associate director for structural heart disease at UNMC, was elected governor of the Nebraska Chapter of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) from 2020 to 2023. In this role, he will serve as the Nebraska Chapter president and represent the state at the national level on the ACC Board of Governors.
As chapter governor-elect, Dr. Goldsweig already has convened two Nebraska ACC workgroups: an advocacy workgroup and an education workgroup, the latter chaired by William Schleifer, M.D., an electrophysiologist at Nebraska Medicine and assistant professor at UNMC. The advocacy workgroup has begun planning non-partisan lobbying efforts on behalf of the cardiology community and our patients. The education workgroup has begun planning speakers including for the 2019 Nebraska ACC Annual Dinner.
“Having recently chaired the 2018 Nebraska ACC Annual Dinner featuring Dr. John Carroll from the University of Colorado, I hope to continue to bring nationally renowned cardiologists to the Cornhusker state,” Dr. Goldsweig said. “My election as governor of the Nebraska Chapter of the ACC will also help UNMC and Nebraska Medicine further its mission of national leadership in cardiovascular medicine.”
Center for Continuing Education responds to plea from Open Door Mission
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Bridget Bauman, left, and Sonya Ross |
Bridget Bauman had the idea to buy a few turkeys. She told co-worker, Sonya Ross, who said, “Let’s do something good today.”
It grew into a department quest to help make Thanksgiving Day more special for families. The staff rallied to buy 24 turkeys (408 lbs. total) and loaded them into an SUV to deliver them to the Open Door Mission. In addition, UNMC physician Kelly Caverzagie, M.D., associate professor, internal medicine-general medicine, made a donation to the Open Door Mission equal to the cost of the turkeys.
The department plans to make this an annual event.
UNMC’s online master of physician assistant studies gets national recognition
UNMC’s online master of physician assistant studies has been named No. 4 in the country for such programs by onlinemasters.com, a nonprofit dedicated to ranking online degree programs. UNMC was praised as the online PA program with the most hands-on clinical experience. Online Masters said 21 industry experts, hiring managers, current students and alumni were consulted when ranking the nation’s programs. Pace University ranked first, Yale University ranked second, and Big Ten peer University of Wisconsin-Madison was seventh in Online Masters’ 2019 PA program rankings.
“UNMC’s online degree advancement option is an excellent opportunity for PAs to further their competencies in medicine while having the convenience of an online curriculum,” said Shaun Horak, interim director of physician assistant education. “The PA department is meeting the needs of the next generation of students by providing an innovative approach to the delivery of quality educational content.”
Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center receives ‘Fuel the Cure’ donation
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A $6,100 donation check is presented to the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center on behalf of 24 retail locations that participated in “Fuel the Cure” during October. From left, Roger Berry, director of market development with the Nebraska Corn Board; Sarah Caswell, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, Ashley Christensen, University of Nebraska Foundation director of development for the Buffett Cancer Center; Megan Grimes, program manager with the Nebraska Ethanol Board; Jan tenBensel, chairman of the Nebraska Ethanol Board; Scott McPheeters, vice chairman of the Nebraska Ethanol Board. |
For every gallon of ethanol-blended fuel — E15 to flex fuel E85 — purchased between Oct. 1-31, the participating fuel station donated three cents per gallon.
While biofuels and cancer research may seem like an unlikely pairing, research shows that using more biofuels leads to less air pollution. According to the American Lung Association, up to 70 percent of ground-level ozone-forming pollutants come from mobile-source emissions.
“Gasoline contains as many as 300 different chemicals,” said Sarah Caswell, Nebraska Ethanol Board administrator. “Some of these chemicals are known and suspected to cause cancer. Higher blends of biofuel dilute the level of toxic additives in our fuel, which helps reduce pollution and the threat to public health. Ethanol is the safest component in gasoline today.”
Representatives from the Nebraska Ethanol Board and Nebraska Corn Board presented a donation check to the cancer center on Nov. 15.
Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center honored by engineering publication
The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center has been recognized as one of the best Midwest projects in 2018 by Engineering News-Record. The nomination was made by HDR, the Omaha firm that served as the architect/engineer on the project. The nomination cited the building for having all cancer-related functions in one facility.
New edition of book on childhood obesity features many University of Nebraska contributors
The second edition of “Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence,” a book co-edited by Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Dele Davies, M.D., with Hiram Fitzgerald, Ph.D., and Kami Silk, Ph.D., of Michigan State University, will be published today.
“The book is notable for its NU system-wide contributing authors, consisting of 13 faculty and graduate students from UNMC, UNO and UNL,” Dr. Davies said. “In addition, there are 35 other contributing authors from 16 other institutions from across the U.S. and Norway who gave their expertise to the book.”
Among the institutions contributing to the book were Duke University and Johns Hopkins University.
University of Nebraska contributors include:
- UNMC: Paul Estabrooks, Ph.D.; Corrine Hanson, Ph.D.; LaKaija Johnson; Gwenndolyn Porter: Megan Timmerman, Dietric Hennings, M.D; Corrigan McBride, M.D.; Tiffany Tanner, M.D.
- University of Nebraska at Omaha: Kayley Snyder; Danae Dinkel, Ph.D.
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Adam Wagler, Ph.D.; Changmin Yan, Ph.D.
Holiday sale at UNMC bookstore
The UNMC Bookstore is making holiday shopping even easier! From Dec. 3-21, enjoy 15 percent off at the store. The discount does not include: lab coats, scrubs, textbooks, reference books, computer hardware and software. The discount is available in-store or at the store website.