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Byers Shaw Jr., M.D. |
“I’m very proud of the incredible dedication of all those people who worked so hard to get the program off the ground in 1985. At the highest level were Chancellor Charles Andrews, University Hospital administrator Bob Baker, College of Medicine Dean Bob Waldman, chairman of surgery Bing Rikkers and, of course, Mike Sorrell who was chairman of internal medicine at the time. This group displayed a rare brand of leadership that embraced the risks inherent in new ventures.
“The team I brought from Pittsburgh included Dr. Pat Wood, a surgeon who had just finished his transplant surgery fellowship at Pitt. Pat’s incredible work ethic and his newly minted surgical skills were indispensable to the early success of the program. Bob Duckworth brought from Pittsburgh nearly a decade of work in the field of organ donation and procurement, expertise we sorely needed in Nebraska at the time.
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“Dr. Joe Anderson developed a level of expertise in the performance and interpretation of liver ultrasound tests that was essential to the program’s success. This was a new field and Joe had to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge on his own. One can’t forget all the work put in by the hepatology group to develop what was essentially an entirely new science. In addition to Mike Sorrell, we had dedicated physicians like Rowen Zetterman, David Burnett, Dan Schafer, Jerry Donovan and Fred Paustian.
“Maybe the most important person of all, however, has been Laurie Williams, nurse transplant coordinator. Through every success and struggle, Laurie has been there as a staunch advocate for our patients and for the quality of our program.
“These are just a few of the people whose efforts and dedication allowed our program to become one of the busiest and, by far, the most successful program in the world at the time.”