Name: Lisa Runco
Title: Administrative director, Child Health Research Institute (CHRI)
Hometown: Omaha
Talk about your job and what you like best about it:
Being involved in the development of a new research institute, which is a unique collaboration between UNMC and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, is an honor and a privilege. There are so many things to do every day. I can’t wait to come to work every morning!
I am excited to be working with extraordinarily talented individuals involved with pediatric research spanning not only UNMC and CHMC, but across all of the NU system campuses. The vision of the CHRI (affectionately called "cheery") is to improve the health of children through innovative research, leading to advances in disease prevention and treatment. We serve the people of Nebraska and the children of the world.
My job is to work alongside the executive and scientific directors of CHRI, to identify and provide the resources and collaborative opportunities required to conduct groundbreaking research, in order to attract leading pediatric investigators and their teams.
We are fortunate to have strong support and leadership from the highest levels at both UNMC and CHMC. The sky really is the limit!
List three things people may not know about you:
- I have been fortunate to travel the world with my husband Mitch, and we aren’t done yet!
- We love all of our boys – two sons, Mitch Jr. and Nick – and two (soon to be three) toy schnauzers, Milo, Oscar and Benito – the Runco MOB.
- Trying to get in the door, my first-ever interview at UNMC years ago was for a clerical position working for Dr. Rod Markin – he thought I was overqualified so he didn’t hire me!