UNMC will be ready to build a new normal

The seventh state-of-the-campus address, at the annual Faculty Senate Award Ceremony, from UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., was different from the previous six in one way: it was virtual, via Zoom, to ensure social distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 public-health emergency.

But Dr. Gold’s remarks, titled “Transformation during turbulent times: Building the new normal,” struck a familiar tone from the chancellor. UNMC will continue to dream big, be bold and keep building.

“We can either be a victim of the new normal,” Dr. Gold said Tuesday, “or we can build it.”

Working together, the med center will do the latter, the chancellor said.

“Right now, all of us are really focused on flattening the curve,” he said. Whether we are working on the front lines, or working from home, each is doing our part to get ourselves, and each other, through this global pandemic.

“But this will pass,” Dr. Gold said.

And what then?

First, we celebrate, the chancellor said. We open our new sites, the Davis Global Center, Wittson Hall and McGoogan Library renovations, and the Wigton Heritage Center. “We need to do it with a lot of fanfare,” the chancellor said.

And then, “We’re going to have to revise our goals and strategies.”

Dr. Gold said he will empower all of the med center family — “and I do mean all” — to roll up its sleeves to work together to build the new normal in a way that is transformational.

Dream big. Be bold. Keep building.

Dr. Gold is thinking of a master plan.

The cornerstone will be the NExT project, a proposed state-of the art academic medical center facility and federal all-hazard disaster response military and civilian partnership. The multibillion-dollar public-private partnership is projected to be a game-changer in disaster response and an economic boom for the state.

But NExT is just the start. Dr. Gold envisions new infrastructure, and growth for academic, clinical and research programs, and continued enrollment growth.

These initiatives must be mission driven, and come from campus input.

The chancellor once again called upon the philosophy of Adm. James Stockdale: That we must combine the faith that we will prevail with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of our current reality.

“We are building the new normal,” Dr. Gold said.

Times like the one we are in currently can be hard. “But they not only create challenges.

“It’s also going to create opportunities. Here at the med center, all of us have to be ready to embrace those opportunities,” Dr. Gold said.

Presentation highlights

Dr. Gold also gave a review of the past year and of UNMC’s prominent efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNMC’s response to COVID-19 includes:

• Keep teaching, keep learning efforts.
• Virtual commencement and convocations.
• Groundbreaking research; clinical trials, patterns of transmission, etc.
• Outreach and innovation, including the 1-Check COVID app (with UNO), leading of virtual training, sharing expertise on national media.
• Clinical efforts, since January (Camp Ashland, Diamond Princess); pandemic planning for the nation.
• Public health for Nebraska and beyond, always “leaning in” as Dr. Gold says.

UNMC was prominent in several initiatives in the last year:

• Flood relief still ongoing.
• iEXCEL.
• Rural Health Center.
• Workforce development, including H3 jobs; an investment in the university is an investment in the state of Nebraska, Dr. Gold said.
• Continued dividends from the UNMC/UNO relationship, including UNeTech, biomechanics and printing services.
• Organizational culture, including wellness and resiliency and engagement.
• Inclusivity, diversity and equity; Dr. Sheritta Strong is its first director.
• Sustainability; UNMC boasts the largest rooftop solar array in the state and achieved its curtailment goal.
• New opportunities as a trusted resource: “The NExT project would make us one of the largest demonstration centers of hazardous response in the U.S. if not the world.”
• Economic impact of $4.8 billion with Nebraska Medicine.
• Research, a record $138.6 million in external funding.
• Outreach – SIM-NE has visited 93 counties, training more than 5,000 first responders, and is now conducting COVID-19 training.