Retirement event set for Mark Mailliard, MD

The UNMC Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (GI) will hold a retirement reception from 1-3 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8, for Mark Mailliard, MD, who will retire from the department after 24 years.

Cake and refreshments will be provided in the Linder Reading Room on the second floor of the Sorrell Center.

“The University of Nebraska is known for its development of internal medicine faculty,” Dr. Mailliard said. “I feel like one of the most grateful recipients of remarkable training, collaboration and encouragement in the accomplishment of my professional goals.”

Dr. Mailliard graduated from the UNMC College of Medicine in 1980 and completed an internal medicine residency at UNMC (1983) and a gastroenterology fellowship at UNMC (1984). He returned to campus in 1998 as a faculty member.

The Omaha native served as division chief for 14 years. During that time, the GI division was ranked in the top 25 in the U.S. twice. He was instrumental in the division’s clinical research trials of hepatitis C therapy and led the hepatitis C clinic for over 15 years. During this time, hepatitis C virus therapy transformed from a complicated, burdensome process for patients where only 15-20% were cured to a treatment without side effects with a 95% cure rate.

His other research interests included alcoholic liver disease and liver regeneration.

Dr. Mailliard credited his mentors, Michael Sorrell, MD, Dean Tuma, PhD, Rowen Zetterman, MD, and the late Fred Paustian, MD, with much of his success. He said Lynell Klassen, MD, and Deborah Romberger, MD, were outstanding internal medicine chairs.

“Our gastroenterology team – faculty, fellows and staff – have taught me so much about skill, compassion and teamwork,” he said. “I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a great group of professionals. I have nothing but the greatest optimism regarding the medical center’s future.”

Bradley Britigan, MD, dean of the UNMC College of Medicine, praised Dr. Mailliard’s work as a scientist, clinician, educator and leader.

“Over the course of his career, Dr. Mailliard contributed locally and nationally to the transition of hepatitis C from an untreatable chronic infection that could lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer to an infection that can be cured in the vast majority of cases,” Dr. Britigan said. “For these efforts, we are grateful, as well as for the many years that he directed the division of gastroenterology and hepatology, leading it to academic and clinical prominence. On behalf of the UNMC College of Medicine, thank you, Dr. Mailliard, for your many contributions and congratulations on an outstanding career.”

The UNMC community is invited to drop by the reception anytime between 1-3 p.m. No RSVPs are necessary.