Academic Affairs' Impact in Education Awards ceremony was held Feb. 7
On Feb. 7, the UNMC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs held the Impact in Education Awards ceremony, recognizing UNMC's finest educators. James O'Dell, M.D., and Paul Paulman, M.D., were both honored as the 2018-19 Educators Laureate.
To see photos from the event, click here.
Other winners included:
- Innovative Practices in Education Award: Danish Bhatti, M.D., assistant professor, UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences
- Inspirational Mentor of Educators Award: Shannon Boerner, M.D., assistant professor, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine
- Interprofessional Education Scholar Award: Elizabeth Beam, Ph.D., assistant professor, UNMC College of Nursing Omaha Division
- Research in Education Scholar Award: Kendra Schmid, Ph.D., professor and interim chair, UNMC Department of Biostatistics
- Valor in Educational Service Award: James Newland, M.D., emeritus professor, UNMC Department of Pathology & Microbiology
- Visionary Leadership in Education Award: Karen Gould, Ph.D., vice chair of education and associate professor, UNMC Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy
Dr. Summers selected as top sleep doctor in Nebraska
A Reader’s Digest article listing the top sleep doctors across the United States has selected Michael Summers, M.D., director of the Nebraska Medicine Sleep Center, as the top sleep doctor in Nebraska. Dr. Summers, who is assistant professor, internal medicine – pulmonary for UNMC, earned his top ranking as "patients consider him to be exceptionally thorough and value his ability to explain things in terms they understand." He is board-certified in sleep medicine and critical care medicine.
Dr. Balasanova awarded scholarship to attend National Leadership Forum
For her extensive contributions to advocacy for patients with substance use and mental illness, Alena Balasanova, M.D., director of addictions education at UNMC, was recently awarded a scholarship to attend the 29th Annual National Leadership Forum for the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA).
The forum was held Feb. 4-7 in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with Prevention Day activities through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Dr. Balasanova was among 2,900 substance use advocates from throughout the country at the forum, as well as a congressional panel of speakers. She provided her expertise at the conference by participating in several personalized breakout sessions for national organizations involved in guiding policy and research for substance use prevention throughout the U.S.
Some of the nation’s leading experts on substance use policy presented at the forum, including Jerome Adams, M.D., M.P.H., the U.S. surgeon general, and Alex Azar, the U.S. secretary for health and human services.
“I am honored to have had a chance to spend several days with our nation’s most influential leaders for our mutual aim of bettering the health of our communities and reducing suffering related to substance use,” said Dr. Balasanova, who is assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Psychiatry. “I have come back reenergized with the latest science and with new strategies to tackle substance use here in Nebraska.”
The mission of CADCA is to help strengthen and maintain safe, healthy and drug-free communities globally. This is accomplished by providing technical assistance and training, public policy advocacy, media strategies and marketing programs, training and special events.
SAMHSA is the branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services charged with improving the quality and availability of treatment and rehabilitative services for substance use and mental illness.
Dr. Mikuls is senior author on new study
Ted Mikuls, M.D., a rheumatologist in the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, is senior author on a study in "Seminars in Arthritis & Rheumatism." Five other UNMC faculty, all with Omaha VA affiliations, are co-authors. The study shows that post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans with rheumatoid arthritis is associated with increased inflammation. Data from the study strongly suggest that post-traumatic stress disorder acts as an inflammatory stimulus in the context of rheumatoid arthritis, leading to more severe disease. To read the article, click here. The study also is featured in MedPage Today.
Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center wins engineering award for HDR
HDR has received a Grand Award from the 2019 Engineering Excellence Awards for its design of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. HDR was recognized for creating a design that allows:
- Researchers to work in laboratories just steps away from clinicians caring for patients;
- For collaboration, communication and problem solving;
- Researchers on seven of the 10 floors to study different types of cancer;
- Patients to receive advanced treatments based on the latest research findings;
- Patients to travel seamlessly between the clinic and the hospital;
- For a central, easily navigated destination on the UNMC/Nebraska Medicine campus.
New workroom allows OB anesthesiologists to be 'part of the team'
A former exam room in Labor and Delivery at Nebraska Medicine now has a new and important purpose: offering a work space for the obstetrics and gynecology anesthesia staff. The room is equipped with desks and computers, shelves for reference materials and room for staff members to get work done.
"It puts us closer to our patients in labor and delivery and our providers: nurses, OBs, family medicine doctors, midwives. It makes us more of a team," said Cathleen Peterson-Layne, M.D., professor of anesthesiology at UNMC.
The room also includes monitors where anesthesiologists can monitor fetal heart rates and maternal progress while they chart or do other work. The renovated space is located in University Tower, Room 4467.
Former UNMC graduate student profiled in Journal of Cell Biology
Mahak Sharma, Ph.D., a graduate of the UNMC Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program, was profiled in the Feb. 19 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. Dr. Sharma, who is now independent investigator at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali (IISER Mohali), worked in the biochemistry and molecular biology lab of Steve Caplan, Ph.D., professor, and Naava Naslavsky, Ph.D., assistant professor. The profile mentions her training at UNMC as an important part of her development.
Physicians enjoy Big Ten spotlight
Nebraska Medicine and UNMC physicians recently received nationwide publicity, after being featured in the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium December newsletter. Pavankumar Tandra, M.B.B.S., medical oncologist, was profiled in the newsletter's Investigator Spotlight. Matthew Lunning, D.O., hematologist/medical oncologist, and David Anderson, Ph.D., post-doctoral research associate in UNMC's Mind & Brain Health Labs, shared an article regarding the medical center's use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, encouraging physicians to be mindful about the toxicities patients can experience. Drs. Lunning and Anderson discuss the work underway at Nebraska Medicine to explore ways to develop biological predictors of CAR T-related toxicities.