Retirement event for Dr. Cieslak set for May 26

On May 31, Ted Cieslak, MD, is retiring — again.

For the past year, he has served as interim executive director for health security and helped UNMC navigate the pandemic through on-campus testing; enhanced public health and safety measures; in-person learning, teaching and work; coordinated communications; vaccination distribution; and strong collaborations between UNMC, Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Now, Dr. Cieslak is retiring for the second time (OK, third when you include retirement from the military), and the campus community is invited to wish him well during the Wednesday, May 26, open house from 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. in the Linder Reading Room (Room No. 2001) on the second floor of the Sorrell Center. Remarks will begin at 11:15 a.m.

“Ted has been instrumental in helping us successfully navigate COVID-19 across all of our campuses,” said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD. “His tireless work and guidance helped ensure the wellness and safety of our faculty, staff and students and I am grateful for his service.”

“It has been an honor,” Dr. Cieslak said in an email to colleagues. “And, despite the serious nature of the work, it has, in many ways, been a lot of fun. The colleagues with whom I’ve been able to share this journey are some of the finest people one could ever meet. UNMC is clearly in very good hands. I will miss the job and the people tremendously.”

That said, he plans to remain peripherally involved in UNMC’s work by giving an occasional guest lecture, assisting with grants and working on a few other projects. “I’ll also be a fly on the wall and continue to closely follow the great things being accomplished here at UNMC.”

Dr. Cieslak joined UNMC in 2015 as associate professor of epidemiology and as medical co-director of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit.

While at UNMC, he designed and taught several courses for the College of Public Health, worked with faculty and staff in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit and the Center for Preparedness Education; traveled the country on behalf of NETEC; and served as medical director of Nebraska’s National Quarantine Unit.

His involvement with UNMC’s COVID-19 response efforts began in February 2020. Seven hours after arriving to his Destin, Florida, vacation, Dr. Cieslak returned to Omaha when the NCU received passengers from the Diamond Princess Cruise ship.

“The honor of caring for the 15 passengers brought to our NQU is a high point of my tenure at UNMC,” he said.

After 43 days, the med center discharged the last of the Diamond Princess guests and the NCU stood down; on May 31, 2020, Dr. Cieslak retired. Eight hours later, on the morning of June 1, he was asked to serve as interim executive director for health security to help keep the UNMC community safe from COVID-19.

As the UNMC liaison officer, DJ Thayer worked alongside Dr. Cieslak throughout the pandemic. “Even during some of the most difficult days, Ted would, without fail, always find a balance of the hard facts, but also find encouraging and measured words of hope and optimism to share with the team,” Thayer said. “That always kept us going. Few come along as genuinely authentic as Dr. Cieslak.”

In retirement, Dr. Cieslak plans to spend time with his family including his daughters and grandchildren, who live in Texas.

Jane Meza, PhD, will take over the UNMC health security responsibilities; a role she has held at the University of Nebraska at Omaha during the past year.