Michael Wadman, MD, can remember walking into the graduate medical education office to see a line of people outside Vicki Hamm’s door – “residents, program, directors, faculty, people from the dean’s office – who would go in there to sit down and get good counsel.
“Can you imagine a GME office without Vicki?” Dr. Wadman asked a crowd of people who gathered in December to mark Hamm’s then-approaching retirement. “It’s just surreal to think I can’t walk over there and hear her voice down the hall – door open or closed, either way.”
See a photo album from the event
The line got a laugh, but there also were tears at the Dec. 13 event in the Wigton Heritage Center as UNMC College of Medicine leaders, faculty, providers, co-workers and residents came together to celebrate Hamm’s 47-year UNMC career.
Dean Bradley Britigan, MD, took to the podium to call Hamm irreplaceable.
“I don’t know how you recognize and thank somebody for almost 48 years of outstanding service and commitment to this institution,” he said. “I’ve been here 12 years, and it’s hard to believe I only account for about 25% of the time Vicki has been in that role.”
Dr. Wadman, one of the three associate deans of graduate medical education who worked with Hamm, said one of the best parts of his former job was “to see someone who had people skills and the deep knowledge of what we were doing, and then, on top of that, someone who really cares about the people they’re working with and who they are serving.”
Chandra Are, MBBS, the current associate dean of graduate medical education, acted as master of ceremonies for the event but also took time to share his admiration of Hamm.
“What drove Vicki’s passion was not just the job, but the residents,” he said. “She has mentored so many of them.
‘If I had to count some of the most talented, wonderful people I ever had the opportunity to work with, Vicki would be one of them.”
Neesha Patel, MD, president of Housed Officers Association, shared a message of appreciation from the residents.
“She knows all of our faces, she knows all of us,” Dr. Patel said. “We’ll miss you – all your years of knowledge GME-wise, and all the help you’ve given us residents.”
Erin Snow, who has assumed Hamm’s former role as the designated institutional administrator for GME, said: “There is practically no administrative aspect in which she is not an expert, and she has been the mastermind of developing processes and procedures to meet evolving ACGME requirements.”
Ann Anderson Berry, MD, PhD, was among the many people who stopped in to the event to speak with Hamm and commemorate her career.
“I met Vicki probably my first day of my intern year,” Dr. Anderson Berry said. “She’s just a person you remember, and she remembers you. If there’s anyone on campus who makes you feel welcome and part of the team and valued, it’s Vicki Hamm. We are so lucky that she has created that culture and set that tone for our training programs over the past four decades.”
When Hamm took the podium to speak, she spoke about her love for the house officers she has spent more than 40 years helping, as well as her UNMC legacy.
“Every day I get up, I come to work, and I love to do it because of the house officers. They are what kept me in this – I’ve worked with over 3,000, many of whom are still good, good friends. They are a special group of especially dedicated and loyal people, and I believe are the backbone of this institution, and it has been a privilege to work with so many talented people.”
Hamm recounted a recent phone call she’d had with a former resident – a resident, she said, who was surprised to find her still answering the phone when he called the office.
“He said to me, ‘You have really helped a lot of people,’” Hamm said. “And I guess that’s how I’d like to be remembered, if you remember me.”
