The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Medicine Alumni
Association has honored five individuals who have made a significant impact
in their careers, as well as have advanced the College of Medicine, UNMC,
medical research and humanitarian causes.
Charles Durham, chairman of Durham Resources in Omaha, and Harold M.
Maurer, M.D., UNMC chancellor, each was honored Friday with the Honorary
Alumnus Award during an alumni reception at The Champions Club. Nebraska
natives James O. Armitage, M.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine;
and Warren and Gretchen Berggren, medical missionaries and educators, received
the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
The Honorary Alumnus Award is given annually to individuals who have
significantly contributed to the growth and success of the College of Medicine
and UNMC. The Distinguished Alumnus Award is given to individuals whose
careers are marked by a strong work ethic, continuous dedication to the
medical field and commitment to education.
Durham made the largest single gift in UNMC’s history. This gift, in
addition to gifts from others, will fund construction of the $77 million,
284,000-square-foot Research Center of Excellence on the west end of campus
at 45th Street and Dewey Avenue. The center, expected to be completed in
the fall of 2003, will provide the medical center with much needed, state-of-the-art
research space. The 10-level research center will include 116 research
laboratories, a 225-seat auditorium and 15 classrooms or conference rooms.
Durham’s support also is making possible the construction of a $19.1
million parking garage for employees. The garage will sit adjacent to the
research center. It will be completed by fall 2002.
In 1998, the Durhams established a permanent endowment fund at the University
of Nebraska Foundation. The Charles W. and Margre H. Durham Excellence
in Medicine Fund is used to support innovative education and research programs
in the UNMC College of Medicine in three key areas — arthritis, prostate
and breast cancer, and minimally invasive surgery. In recognition of the
gift, the Outpatient Care Center was renamed the Durham Outpatient Center.
“I can’t think of anything I could spend my money on that would do the
community and the people and the country as much good as to be part of
finding cures for diseases that affect so many men and women,” Durham said.
Since becoming chancellor of the state’s only public health sciences
center in December 1998, Dr. Maurer has worked diligently to bolster UNMC’s
research, education and outreach efforts en route to becoming a world-renowned
health sciences center and health system. “The timing is right for us to
become the medical institution that all other institutions emulate,” he
said.
A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, Dr. Maurer joined UNMC in 1993 as dean of
the UNMC College of Medicine, after having served 17 years as professor
and chairman of the department of pediatrics for Children’s Medical Center
at the Medical College of Virginia. He has an international reputation
in pediatric oncology, and a distinguished research career in rhabdomyosarcoma,
the most common type of sarcoma found in the soft tissues of children.
Dr. Maurer chaired the national Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group
for 25 years, a group that is credited with raising the cure rate for children
with this disease from 25 to 75 percent.
In Nebraska, he helped reshape the clinical enterprise to meet managed
care needs and helped lead the merger of University Hospital and Clarkson
Hospital to form Nebraska Health System in 1997.
An internationally known cancer specialist, Dr. Armitage finds his greatest
job satisfaction in the day-to-day relationships with his patients. “My
life goal is caring for people and, as a physician, making some positive
difference in the lives of my patients. We don’t make anyone live forever,
but we can help them live longer and hopefully always live better.”
Over the years, the 1973 UNMC College of Medicine graduate has received
numerous accolades and awards for his work in bone marrow transplantation
and in the classification and treatment of lymphoma. From 1979 to 1982,
he directed the bone marrow transplantation program at the University of
Iowa, then returned to Omaha and started UNMC’s bone marrow transplant
program. Prior to the dean’s post, he served 10 years as chairman of the
internal medicine department, the largest clinical department at UNMC.
He has been president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology,
the nation’s largest group of cancer researchers and clinicians; and president
of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplant, a professional
association that represents the interests of blood and marrow transplantation
clinicians and investigators. He also is a Fellow of the Royal College
of Physicians.
For nearly 40 years, Drs. Warren and Gretchen Berggren have worked together
as medical missionaries, educators and researchers to improve the health
of children across the Third World. In Deschapelles, Haiti, where they
have spent much of their career, the hospital’s public health building
is known as “Kay Berggren,” Creole for “the Berggrens’ house.”
The couple met at UNMC, where Warren graduated in 1955 and Gretchen
graduated in 1958. He is from Aurora, Neb. She is from Chadron, Neb. Over
the years, they have traveled to Bangladesh, East Africa and Haiti, where
Gretchen focused on maternal and child health and family planning, and
Warren focused on tropical disease and general public health. Together,
they pioneered new approaches to community-based health care.
In addition to their public health work, the Berggrens have held academic
appointments at Harvard School of Public Health, where they also obtained
advanced degrees. They also have worked for UNICEF; Save the Children,
where Warren was the director of primary health care from 1984 to 1993;
and World Relief, where Warren served as its Child Survival Health Director
and Gretchen worked as a Maternal and Child Health Specialist.