Eight University of Nebraska Medical Center faculty members have received awards for their excellent work.
Outstanding teaching awards were given to Dennis McNeilly, Psy.D., Parmender Mehta, Ph.D., Michael Rice, Ph.D., and Edward (Ted) Roche, Ph.D. Surender Batra, Ph.D., was recognized for his mentoring, while Keith Mueller, Ph.D., was honored for his community service.
Two faculty – Paul Paulman, M.D., and Bud Shaw, M.D. – received university-wide awards. Dr. Paulman earned the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA). Dr. Shaw was awarded the University of Nebraska Innovation, Development and Engagement Award.
A native of Fort Dodge, Iowa, Dr. McNeilly is associate professor of psychiatry and assistant dean for continuing education for the College of Medicine. He joined UNMC in 1999 and currently serves as psychiatry course director. He teaches second-year medical students.
Dr. McNeilly’s research interest deals with problem gambling, especially in older adults. He has been investigating a drug that might help pathological gamblers to abstain from gambling. In 2006-07, he served as president of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Dr. Mehta, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, joined UNMC in 2000 as associate professor and was elevated to professor in 2009. Prior to coming to UNMC, he served 12 years on the faculty of the University of Miami (Fla.) School of Medicine.
A native of India, Dr. Mehta teaches endocrinology and hemostasis, the stoppage of bleeding/hemorrhage or blood flow through a blood vessel or organ of the body, for first-year medical students as well as several courses for graduate students.
Dr. Rice is professor of community based health for the College of Nursing. He specializes in mental health. His teaching duties include advanced courses in adult mental health nursing and the neuroscience of psycholpharmacology.
A native of Neligh, Neb., Dr. Rice joined UNMC in 2008. Prior to joining UNMC, Dr. Rice worked at several nursing schools including the University of California Medical Center at San Francisco, University of Arizona, the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education in Spokane, Wash., and Arizona State University.
Dr. Roche joined the UNMC College of Pharmacy in 1966. In 1980, he was appointed assistant dean for academic affairs in the college, and in 1985, he was promoted to associate dean. He held that post until 2003 when he stepped down from his administrative post to return to the classroom.
A native of Indianapolis, Dr. Roche currently serves as associate professor of pharmaceutical science. He teaches classes in medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutical science and professional development.
Dr. Batra, professor and chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology, received the Outstanding Mentor of Graduate Students Award. He also is the Distinguished Helen Fretag Professor of Cancer Biology, senior associate dean for research and development in the College of Medicine and associate director for training and education in the Eppley Institute.
A native of India, Dr. Batra joined UNMC in 1999 as an associate professor after 11 years at Duke University Medical Center. He was named professor in 2008 and elevated to department chairman and senior associate dean in 2009. A prodigious researcher, he has brought in nearly $10 million in research funding since coming to UNMC.
Keith Mueller, Ph.D., professor in the College of Public Health’s Health Services Research and Administration Department, received the Spirit of Community Service Award.
A nationally known expert in rural health policy, Dr. Mueller has been a tireless advocate for better health policy in general. Over the years, he has spent countless hours serving in urban and rural communities alike to help communities develop, expand and improve.
He joined UNMC in 1990. He was appointed associate dean for academic affairs for the College of Public Health in 2007 and served as interim dean of the college from 2008-09. In 1996-97, Dr. Mueller served as president of the National Rural Health Association.
A native of Sutherland, Neb., Dr. Paulman earned his medical degree from UNMC in 1977 and joined the faculty in 1982 after stints in private practice in Spalding, Neb., and in the National Health Service Corps. He is professor of family medicine and assistant dean for clinical skills for the College of Medicine.
His nominator referred to Dr. Paulman as "a teacher’s teacher." He is active on many levels of education in the College of Medicine including: supervising medical students’ rural health care experience in Jamaica; founding and assisting with the student-run SHARING Clinics; and directing the Sorrell Center Clinical Skills Laboratory. He has authored multiple books on the teaching of family medicine.
Dr. Shaw joined UNMC in 1985 when he started the liver transplant program. Under Dr. Shaw’s direction, the solid organ transplant program expanded to include kidney, pancreas, small bowel and heart transplantation. He served as chairman of the department of surgery from 1997 to 2008. In 2008, he took on his current position as medical director of the Advanced Clinical Applications Project.
Always interested in innovation, Dr. Shaw was one of the founders of HKS Medical Information Systems, a company dedicated to software products that improve patient care, workflow management and operational efficiency. The company’s first software, Organ Transplant Tracking Record (OTTR), and its companion programs still are the most-used patient tracking software for transplantation in the world.
As the state’s only academic health science center, UNMC is on the leading edge of health care. Breakthroughs are possible because hard-working researchers, educators and clinicians are resolved to work together to fuel discovery. In 2009, UNMC’s extramural research support topped $100 million for the first time, resulting in the creation of 3,600 jobs in Nebraska. UNMC’s academic excellence is shown through its award-winning programs, and its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through its commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading health care centers. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 550 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.