UNMC for the record

Dr. Guthmiller sixth UNMC faculty member to serve as OKU supreme chapter president

Janet Guthmiller, DDS, PhD, dean of the UNMC College of Dentistry, was installed as supreme chapter president of Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU), the national dental honor society, during the American Dental Education Association’s Annual Session held in March 2021.

As supreme chapter president, Dr. Guthmiller will lead the organization in continuing to promote scholarship and character among dental students and educators.

“I am truly honored to have the opportunity to serve this extraordinary organization that recognizes dental students and educators who have distinguished themselves by excellence in scholarship while demonstrating exemplary character traits and potential for professional growth and achievement,” Dr. Guthmiller said.

Dr. Guthmiller was elected into OKU as a dental graduate at the University of Iowa.

The UNMC College of Dentistry – Alpha Alpha Chapter has a longstanding history of leadership in OKU. Dr. Guthmiller is the sixth UNMC faculty member and the fourth dean to serve as supreme chapter president. The other College of Dentistry deans who served as supreme chapter presidents were Richard Bradley, DDS, Stephen Leeper, DDS, and John Reinhardt, DDS, and faculty members were William Kramer, DDS, and Curtis Kuster, DDS.

“I am honored and humbled to follow in the footsteps of my UNMC predecessors and serve as supreme chapter president,” Dr. Guthmiller said. “In this role, I will work with the OKU leadership team to touch the lives of hundreds of dental students and educators across the country and continue to recognize and celebrate tomorrow’s leaders in dentistry.”

Dr. Klepser discusses point-of-care testing on national podcast

Donald Klepser, PhD, professor of pharmacy practice and science and associate dean for academic affairs at the College of Pharmacy, recently appeared on the PharmacyForward podcast to talk about point-of-care testing in order to manage diseases and achieve public health goals. The College of Pharmacy has been a national leader in the role of community pharmacists in these efforts. Dr. Klepser appeared with his brother, Michael Klepser, PharmD, of Ferris State (Mich.) University, a frequent collaborator with colleagues at UNMC. PharmacyForward is produced by the Division of Pharmacy Professional Development at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. Hear the discussion.

NSRI publishes paper on pharmaceutical defenses for warfighters and first responders

The National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) at the University of Nebraska (NU) this week published the concept paper, “Pharmaceutical Defenses for Warfighters and First Responders: The Nebraska Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline,” which illustrates NU’s proven solution for drug discovery and development for the U.S. Department of Defense.

In many cases, pharmaceutical drugs can be used to protect soldiers (and civilians) both before and after exposure to biological, chemical and radiological weapons. However, these types of pharmaceuticals do not always offer a promise of profitability, so the traditional pathways to development are often closed.

The Nebraska Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline (ND3P) was created to fill this gap. Drawing on existing resources, personnel and processes that have evolved through past connections with the NSRI, its sponsor U.S. Strategic Command and numerous Department of Defense customers, the pipeline is led and contributed to by University of Nebraska researchers and is poised to take orders for American forces’ next-gen pharmaceutical defenses.

Read the concept paper.

National Association of Medical Orchestras will hold free virtual conference in May

The National Association of Medical Orchestras will hold a free virtual conference May 15-29. Featured speakers include a keynote presentation by Lisa Wong, MD, associate co-director of the arts and humanities initiative at Harvard Medical School, and a presentation by David Skorton, MD, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Conference sessions will address community engagement, programming and rehearsing, recruitment, musician focused topics, orchestra structures and budgets, music and medicine.

See more information or register for the 2021 NAMO conference.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Nebraska Medical Orchestra — a collaboration between the University of Nebraska at Omaha and UNMC open to all health care-related musicians under the direction of Matthew Brooks, DMA — can email the orchestra.

Information available from university retirement seminars

Information from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2021 Virtual Spring Pre-Retirement Webinar now is available online.

The program was targeted for faculty and staff age 50 and older. However, anyone may attend. This webinar was designed to provide assistance as attendees plan for retirement.

Presenters included Fidelity, TIAA, Nebraska SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program), UNL Employees Assistance Program, OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute), UNL Emeriti & Retirees Association and UNL Benefits Department.

Retirements

Matthew Zielinski of facilities management and planning, retired March 2 after more than 42 years of service at UNMC. Zielinski, who started at the med center on Nov. 20, 1978, was the longest-tenured retiree reported by the human resources department this month. He was followed by Margaret “Peggy” Cain, of the UNMC College of Dentistry, who retired April 2 after serving more than 33 years at UNMC.

Other retirements the human resources department announced included:

• Ronita Mendoza, procurement, who retired April 2 (start date March 16, 1989)
• Rita Schmitz, College of Nursing-Lincoln Division, who retired Sept. 1, 2020 (start date Aug. 21, 1989)
• Carmen Pirruccello, Lions Eye Bank, who retired March 2 (start date June 3, 1991)
• Gregory Babbe, MD, family medicine, who will retire June 1 (start date April 24, 1997)
• Diane Wright, College of Dentistry Lincoln Clinic, who retired March 26 (start date Oct. 1, 2009)
• James Gamerl, College of Dentistry administration, who retired March 6 (start date July 1, 2010)