UNMC’s Jakeb Riggle is set to receive his medical degree in May after years of intense schooling. It won’t be his first graduate diploma though. Jakeb, a student in UNMC’s M.D./Ph.D. program, already earned a doctorate in biomedical engineering.
But it will be his final degree before completing his residency in internal medicine at UNMC and then embarking on a career that he hopes brings him back to an academic health science center.
In the future, Jakeb, who is from Elkhorn, Neb., said he plans to practice internal medicine and be involved in training residents, fellows and medical students through simulation technology.
“Basically I want to be involved in technology to make sure students know what they are doing before they interact with patients.”
In other words, Jakeb wants to help train future health care professionals so “we can provide even better medical care to those in Nebraska.”
Jakeb had assistance getting to this level. A Regents scholarship and other scholarships helped him through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for undergraduate studies.
Support for students like Jakeb – those who will become Nebraska’s future workforce – is the focus of a two-year, $200 million fundraising effort for the University of Nebraska.
Our Students, Our Future seeks to secure private gifts for:
Undergraduate scholarships helped Jakeb Riggle, who is now completing the MD/PhD program at UNMC.
The initiative was announced last fall by the university and the University of Nebraska Foundation. It will conclude at the end of 2017.
Through Our Students, Our Future the university hopes to not only advance its highest priority of affordable excellence, but also position its campuses to attract more students in support of goals to significantly grow enrollment and produce more graduates for Nebraska’s workforce.
For UNMC, the initiative focuses on private support for:
In the future, health care professionals will be able to practice and hone skills in a simulated environment before ever encountering the challenges in a real-life clinical setting.
Funding is being sought for a cutting-edge educational facility where students will be immersed in virtual, life-like scenarios that will develop and test their skill and competency levels without putting patients at risk.
When deployed across the state, this technology will be a resource for training students and health professionals statewide. (See story page 4)
In the next decade, retirement and population changes will challenge Nebraska’s health care community, leaving a shortage of health care professionals across the state, but especially in rural areas and areas with concentrated levels of poverty.
Support for these programs and for financial assistance will help UNMC attract students to health careers.