McGoogan staff shares health care history at Girls Inc. event
The Special Collections and Archives Department of the McGoogan Health Sciences Library recently met with some next generation health care providers when library faculty and staff visited Girls Inc. as part of Nebraska Medicine’s Girls Inc. Health Sciences Day.
Using artifacts and photographs, Emily Brush and Darby Reiners held two DEI-focused, historical-thinking workshops at the event. Participants examined the UNMC College of Medicine’s 1957 graduation composite photograph and learned the story of Julius Conner, MD, one of the earliest Black graduates of the Nebraska College of Medicine as part of the Class of 1957. Special Collections and Archives staff recently interviewed Dr. Conner and, at the participants’ request, they shared photographs from the event with him and sent him their greetings.
Students also had the opportunity to analyze historic baby bottles from the M. E. Alberts, MD, Infant Feeder Collection.
Library staff is available for other youth outreach opportunities. Interested groups can send requests or inquiries via email.
Nebraska Public Health Laboratory staff recognized during Community Heroes Night
Nebraska Public Health Laboratory staff, along with other public support organizations such as the Omaha Police Department and Omaha Fire Department, will be honored at the Sept. 11 ceremony during the Union soccer team Community Heroes Night.
Staff are being recognized in coordination with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, for providing the only testing available in the state for SARS-CoV-2 during the early months of the pandemic. They have since performed more than 100,000 COVID tests and also carried out a majority of statewide sequencing surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 variants. They continue to assist hospitals and laboratories across the state with expert guidance on biosafety, packaging and shipping of infectious substances, and diagnostic testing onboarding.
Pete Iwen, PhD, said the demands of the laboratory staff have been consistent with a recent expansion to support testing for an increased wave of the pandemic to include testing that was previously performed at TestNE, which closed on July 18. Staff also perform more than 80% of the SARS-CoV-2 sequencing in Nebraska to monitor for viral mutations and to identify variants for epidemiological investigating
UNeMed opens a 'Back-o-the-Napkin' contest
A new contest is open to all faculty, students and staff who have ideas for innovative medical devices.
Sponsored by UNeMed, UNMC's technology transfer and commercialization office, the "Back-o-the-Napkin Contest" will accept entries throughout the fall until the New Year.
Find entry forms at the James and Karen Linder Maker Studio within the Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library, which is co-sponsoring the contest. Entry forms, designed to resemble actual napkins, ask that inventors draw and describe their ideas. All novel innovations will be rendered into a three-dimensional model.
The top three innovations will win additional support with a professionally engineered and designed prototype. The prototype stage is a common hazard for inventors because prototypes can be costly to create. Yet they are essential for attracting additional support and financing for further development.
The 3D modeling and prototyping will be provided by co-sponsors UNeTech and the Center for Innovation Entrepreneurship and Franchising at the College of Business at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
In addition to the McGoogan Library, entry forms will be available at UNeMed, UNeTech and within various departments around campus.
Submit completed entry forms to UNeMed via campus mail. For digital entries, scan and email completed forms to unemed@unmc.edu.
Ask questions or request additional entry forms via email at tyler.scherr@unmc.edu.
Munroe-Meyer Institute's Mark Smith honored
Mark Smith, assistant professor in the Munroe-Meyer Institute's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service (UCEDD) will receive the 2021 DEC Family Award from the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Smith will receive the award on Sept. 20.
This well-deserved national recognition is a testament to the tremendous impact Mark has had in family-centered care and early childhood nationally," said Mark Shriver, PhD, director of the UCEDD.