Name: Alissa Marr, MD
Medical school attended: UNMC
Location of your residency/fellowship training: UNMC for both, but I also did a chief resident year for internal medicine.
What residency/fellowship program at UNMC are you serving as program director for? Hematology/oncology
Number of trainees: Nine
How long have you been the program director? Three years
What made you chose to become the program director? I always have enjoyed the educational aspect of academic medicine. And I am obviously proud of the training we provide at UNMC, so it seemed like the perfect fit.
What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future? The pandemic and switch to virtual meetings/conferences has added the extra challenge of keeping colleagues truly connected. Providing solid education while still fostering collegial work relationships is the key to a successful and satisfying training program.
What are the strengths of your training program?
We provide our fellows exposure to a broad spectrum of hematologic and oncologic cases, with everything from the bread-and-butter cancer cases to complex second opinions.
Our faculty are experts in their field but always have an open-door policy for our fellows to discuss cases with them.
List some accomplishments that you are proud of:
- I always am proud to see our fellows graduate and land the job they had hoped for. I am especially proud of how many of our recent graduates have stayed on as faculty here at UNMC.
- I am a proud mom of two little, very active boys.
Tell us three things about you that others may not know:
- I actually am a pretty good cook. If I had to choose a career outside of medicine, it would be in the culinary arts.
- I was exceedingly shy until my senior year of high school, when my parents put me in debate club to try and build confidence in my public speaking abilities. I haven’t stopped talking since.
- During our international rotation in internal medicine residency, I was “mugged” by a baboon in South Africa. Thankfully, he took my purse and ran!