UNMC Interim Chancellor H. Dele Davies, MD, spoke about his first 100 days in the role during his latest all-campus forum, held Monday.
Joined by Bill O’Neill, executive director of UNMC Strategic Communications, in an interview format presentation, Dr. Davies answered questions and discussed his goals, meetings with stakeholders on campus and across the state, and the lessons he’s learned.
In what he called an extraordinary first 100 days, Dr. Davies said listening to so many interesting people has been the highlight.
As he went from community to community, he said he found “incredible, immense pride in UNMC and the entire University of Nebraska system,” from enthusiastic graduates to people who praised the work of UNMC’s faculty, staff and students.
Another key takeaway, he said, is the number of people in Nebraska who are looking to UNMC to address the health workforce shortage.
“This is a critical need, and our goal, as a health sciences center, is to do everything we can (to address it),” he said, pointing to two memoranda of understandings signed this month in Scottsbluff to develop a new nursing pathway for rural students.
His own goal, Dr. Davies said, is that every student in Nebraska who wants to be a health care provider will have a pathway to become one without any barriers that prevent them from doing so.
“We cannot afford to leave any student behind,” he said.
He also expressed excitement in the continued advancement of Project Health, the first phase of the $2.2 billion Project NeXT, a joint effort between UNMC and its primary clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine.
“That will change everything we do here on this campus and impact every single community that we take care of across the state,” he said.
He also credited funding that UNMC (and other entities) receive from the Nebraska Legislature — specifically the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research Development Fund — as being integral to research growth, particularly around cancer care, and recruiting researchers who bring research dollars into Nebraska.
“For every $1 million in research funding we get, that’s 15-30 jobs,” Dr. Davies said.
“This is just a smattering of some of the opportunities that I had,” Dr. Davies said, saying he was proud to be working with UNMC’s incredible students and to be helping the state of Nebraska build its health care workforce.
Dr. Davies also:
- Started the forum with a tribute to the late Tom McDonald, PhD, former professor in the department of pathology, microbiology and immunology, calling for a moment of silence in tribute to Dr. McDonald’s “extraordinary legacy at UNMC.”
- Shared a short slide show of impactful meetings he had in Norfolk and Scottsbluff, as well as on campus.
- Mentioned how the development along Saddle Creek Road will draw biotech, health and medical startups to Omaha, as well as provide more research space for the university’s own researchers.
- Expanded on progress in the creation of a UNMC staff advisory council.
- Called the UNMC expansion efforts at the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus a game-changer for rural students and rural health care workforce growth.
- Discussed the Omaha campus’s new shuttle service, which he said was going well.
- Applauded Angela Hewlett, MD, for her work with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
- Expressed pride in the Munroe-Meyer Institute’s first-in-Nebraska use of the EarliPoint diagnostic tool for autism, as well as the UNMC College of Dentistry for the opening of its VETSmile Clinic in Lincoln, which is dedicated to taking care of veterans’ dental care.
- Congratulated the UNMC College of Public Health for its researchers’ groundbreaking studies on vaping.
- Praised UNMC’s research growth, crediting interprofessional research efforts, as well as collaborations between basic scientists, translational scientist and clinicians.