Jenny Thacker, MD, is a new faculty member at UNMC.
- Name: Jenny Thacker, MD
- Positions at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine: Assistant professor, UNMC Department of Emergency Medicine; attending emergency department physician, Nebraska Medicine
- Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee
Research and professional interests:
- Ultrasound in austere environments, including SCUBA
- Hyperbaric clinical research applications
- Ultrasound applications in the hyperbaric department
How I fell in love with medicine, emergency medicine and hyperbarics: I had my appendix taken out when I was 10, and the surgeon brought a pickled appendix to show me at the bedside. It was so amazing! In med school, I did every rotation thinking, “I could do this.” I finally rotated in the emergency room, and I realized I could marry all the specialties via emergency medicine. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) was a Hennepin County Medical Center focus, so my first fellowship was in ultrasound. Back then, hyperbarics was new as a specialty for emergency doctors, so I chose to do an U.S. fellowship over hyperbaric oxygen therapy. However, 20 years later, I still had this nerd-yearning to be involved in hyperbarics, so I left my emergency room practice and went back to do another fellowship at postgraduate year 20-plus at Hennepin County Medical Center.
Degrees/Education:
- MD, University of Tennessee, Memphis
- Residency at Hennepin Healthcare/Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis
- Ultrasound fellowship, Hennepin County Medical Center
- Undersea and hyperbaric medicine fellowship, Hennepin County Medical Center
Memberships:
- Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
- Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society
- Wilderness Medical Society
Three things people may not know about me:
- I am a recovering endurance athlete, having done multiple triathlons and marathons. I have also done some crazy races, such as swim-runs, where two athletes are tethered together by a rope while they traverse a distance, both swimming and running; ice biking; and mountain biking duathlons.
- I love being outdoors, and my garage is stuffed with outdoorsy gear.
- I love dogs and have a German Shepherd.