After 12 years in the role, on Nov. 1, Dr. Steve Lisco stepped down as chair of the department of anesthesiology. He did so, at the request of Dr. Jim Linder, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, and myself, to be able to devote more time to the growing responsibilities of his other major leadership roles – chief academic officer of Nebraska Medicine and senior associate dean for clinical affairs in the UNMC College of Medicine, positions he has held since June 2022.
During Dr. Lisco’s time as chair, the department of anesthesiology has transitioned from a struggling unit to become nationally recognized for its educational, research and clinical prowess and success. Accordingly, the size and scale of the department has grown enormously, with now over 100 talented faculty and expanded numbers of trainees in residency and fellowship programs.
I want to thank Dr. Lisco, in particular, but also the faculty/staff and trainees, for all the work that has been done in building the department of anesthesiology over the past 12 years. The bar was set very high, and it has been cleared. I look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Lisco in his college and Nebraska Medicine leadership roles.
I also would like to thank Dr. Mo Shukry for his willingness to serve as interim chair of the department. I have the greatest confidence that he will continue to work with the members of the department to keep it moving forward while we undertake the process of a national search for Dr. Lisco’s successor.
On a separate note, we recently received feedback from the LCME after they reviewed a required status report from us in which we updated them on the progress that we had made in addressing areas for improvement that were identified during our full survey visit in the fall of 2021.
I am pleased to report that we were now found to be in compliance with all 12 standards, and compliance with all 93 elements within those standards was satisfactory. Only three require ongoing monitoring and follow up with the LCME. This is wonderful news.
My congratulations and thanks to the team responsible, led by Dr. Geoff Talmon, associate dean for curriculum, along with Renee Alley and Lindsey Holmes. Drs. Kelly Caverzagie, Wendy Grant and Shirley Delair also were essential in addressing specific aspects of the improvement plan and report. They each put in much effort to accomplish this outcome.
As this newsletter goes out, we will have just fallen back to standard time. I hope your internal clock resets quickly. Thanksgiving is soon upon us. I hope you each have some well-deserved time with family and friends over the upcoming holiday.