Will remain in post until search for new chairman is completed
After eight years in the position, Lynell Klassen, M.D., has informed Brad Britigan, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine, that he intends to step down as chairman of the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine and wants to begin the transition process for finding a new chairman.
“When I accepted the position in 2005, I indicated that I would be fulfilling the role for no more than 10 years,” Dr. Klassen said. “As I begin my 9th year as chair, it is time to initiate a smooth process of transitioning leadership of the department. At the request of the dean, I will continue to discharge the duties of department chair until he appoints my replacement. I anticipate that we will continue to aggressively pursue our strategic goals during the search process.
After consulting with leadership, faculty and other key stakeholders, Dr. Britigan hopes to form a search committee in the near future. He anticipates that the search will take between 12 and 18 months. When a new chairman is found, Dr. Klassen, the Henry J. Lehnhoff Professor, will return to a faculty position in the rheumatology division and continue his clinical, research and teaching activities.
“As chair of internal medicine and throughout his 30 plus years as a faculty member, Dr. Klassen has contributed immensely to the success of the department and UNMC,” said Dr. Britigan. “I respect his decision to move on to another phase of his career and appreciate his willingness to continue as chair until a successor is identified.
“The recognition that the department has for excellence in education, research, and clinical care, as well as the outstanding faculty that Dr. Klassen has assembled during his tenure as chair provides an outstanding base upon which a new chair will be able to build.”
With more than 180 physicians and scientists, internal medicine is the largest department within the UNMC College of Medicine. The department is organized by disease specialty into 10 divisions.
Dr. Klassen said, “I have spent my entire professional life in what I believe to be the noble calling of academic internal medicine and have always fully embraced the ideals of the classic tripartite academic mission.
“It has been both an honor and a delight to serve on the leadership team of this growing, vibrant and financially sound academic department. I’m proud of the many accomplishments the department has had over the past eight years. I have had a blast.”
A rheumatologist, Dr. Klassen joined UNMC in 1982 and served as vice chair of internal medicine and chief of rheumatology and immunology. He initiated the Experimental Immunology Laboratory, co-directed UNMC’s Bone Marrow Transplant Program and founded the HIV Clinic.
He also served as chief of rheumatology and associate chief of staff and research at the Omaha Veterans Administration Medical Center. He has a long-standing interest in the role the immune system plays in alcoholic liver disease and has been continuously funded since 1977 with peer-reviewed grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and/or the VAMC.
From 2000-2010, he held a NIH MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award for innovative studies in the role of immune responses in alcohol-associated tissue damage. He is one of only three UNMC researchers to ever receive the prestigious MERIT Award.
Among his many honors, Dr. Klassen was named a master of the American College of Physicians (ACP) in 2011. In the 98-year history of the ACP, only a handful of other Nebraska physicians have received the master designation, which is given to physicians exhibiting preeminence in practice or medical research, holding positions of high honor, or making significant contributions to medical science or the art of medicine.
Dr. Klassen served on the NIH’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism National Advisory Council and also held key posts with the American College of Rheumatology and the ACP.