Amy Cannella, M.D., internal medicine, will receive the Excellence in Teaching Award honoring the Pioneering Women in Medicine on May 15. The award was created in 2012 by Carol Swarts, M.D., a 1959 graduate of the UNMC College of Medicine. It seeks to recognize the importance of dedicated teaching faculty who enrich the lives of students and shape outstanding health care providers. The award is given to a basic science teaching faculty in the College of Medicine and may be used as a cash award or to support the recipient’s teaching technology, teaching-related research, or faculty development.
The award also recognizes the contributions and lifelong friendships of three 1959 COM graduates – Dr. Swarts, Margaret Hancock Peterson, M.D., and Marilyn Myers, M.D., – and one 1958 COM graduate, Gretchen Glode Berggren, M.D.
Dr. Schenarts elected president of surgery group
P.J. Schenarts, M.D., professor, surgery – general surgery, has been elected president of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery. The APDS was founded in 1977 to provide a forum for the exchange of information and for discussion on a wide range of subjects related to post-graduate surgical education. The APDS provides assistance to program directors on matters pertaining to surgical education and to accreditation and encourages research into all aspects of the education and training of surgeons and surgical subspecialties.
Dr. Zhen named to the Physician Board at the American Health Council
Weining (Ken) Zhen, M.D., professor, radiation oncology, has been selected to join the Physician Board at the American Health Council. Dr. Zhen was added to the board for his expertise in radiation oncology and health care in general.
"The American Health Council has made an outstanding choice in selecting Dr. Zhen to serve on its Physician Board," said Charles Enke, M.D., professor and chair of the UNMC Department of Radiation Oncology. "He is an outstanding oncology clinician, educator and champion of evidence-based medical care. He is the physician that other doctors choose to take care of their own family members."
Over the past 10 years, Dr. Zhen has been recognized as a leading radiation oncologist by Best Doctors in America. He also has been honored by both UNMC and the University of Iowa for being an outstanding teacher.
Dr. Maurer serves as consultant for AAHC
Harold M. Maurer, M.D., chancellor emeritus for UNMC, is part of a group of 13 consultants – all with extensive experience in leadership positions with academic health centers – that is assisting the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) on a pioneering program. The Aligned Institution Mission (AIM) is designed to help academic health centers around the world to optimize and measure the alignment of their education, research and patient care missions to help create learning health systems for the 21st century.
AAHC has successfully completed the development phase of the program and is now ready to move forward with the pilot phase. The pilot phase will take place at seven sites, including three in the U.S. and one each in Hungary, Malaysia, Brazil and Australia. Following completion of the pilot phase, the AAHC plans a full-scale global launch to all members in 2018.
Ernest Chivero, Ph.D., receives Rex Montgomery Award for outstanding dissertation
UNMC researcher Ernest Chivero, Ph.D., has received the Rex Montgomery Award for an outstanding dissertation in his field at a ceremony held March 25 at the University of Iowa. The award is based on excellence in doctoral research in the prevention of disease and/or translation of research into clinical practice. Dr. Chivero is a postdoctoral research fellow from Zimbabwe, in the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience and the Nebraska Center for Substance Abuse Research (NCSAR), in the lab of Shilpa Buch, Ph.D. Dr. Buch is the director of NCSAR and a professor in the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience.
In his thesis, "Tropism of Human Pegivirus and Host Immunomodulation: Insights into Viral Persistence," Dr. Chivero studied how an RNA virus can mount a persistent infection and reduce immune activation in people infected with both HPgV and HIV. Immune activation and inflammation continue to affect a large proportion of HIV-positive people despite use of antiretroviral therapy.
Dr. Chivero's dissertation advisor was Jack Stapleton, M.D., professor of internal medicine and microbiology at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine.
Dr. Beck Dallaghan published in Academic Medicine
Gary Beck Dallaghan, Ph.D., assistant dean for medical education and director of the Office of Medical Education, has had a paper published in Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. The paper, titled "Recruiting and Retaining Community-Based Preceptors," seeks to characterize the underlying motivational factors for becoming a preceptor and to identify strategies for recruiting and retaining community-based pediatric preceptors. Dr. Beck Dallaghan said the article applies to any of the programs who use volunteer faculty, even though the focus is on pediatric preceptors. The article abstract can be accessed here.
Dr. Bonnema honored by Institute for Clinical Research Education
Rachel Bonnema, M.D., will receive the 2017 Institute for Clinical Research Education (ICRE) Medical Education Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award May 16, at the University of Pittsburgh. ICRE is home for the University of Pittsburgh's premier clinical and translational research training programs of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. The award is given for exceptional achievement and significant contribution to the field of medical education, excellence in mentorship, leadership and scholarship in medical education and outstanding professional and personal development through either traditional channels or innovative approaches.
Nebraska Medicine Epilepsy Center earns highest designation
The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Nebraska Medicine has again been recognized as a level 4 epilepsy center by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers, providing the highest level of care to patients with seizures and epilepsy. Level 4 centers use a multi-disciplinary approach and offer intense neuro-diagnostic monitoring and treatment forms including medications and surgical options. "We are honored to have again earned the highest level of accreditation," said Deepak Madhavan, M.D., associate professor in the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences and director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Nebraska Medicine. "This is a testament to all of the hard work of our caregivers here, as well as our commitment to provide our patients with continued access to the most cutting-edge treatments and technology available in the field today."
Family medicine residents recognized for research efforts
The Fourth Annual Resident Research Symposium on March 29 featured 14 poster presentations and eight oral presentations from UNMC Department of Family Medicine residents. The top presenters are recognized at the annual event attended by faculty, residents and staff. This year's winners were:
Oral presentation
First: Christine Broszko, M.D., for "CenterPregnancy (CP): A Prospective Study to Evaluate Maternal Fetal Outcomes, Breastfeeding Initiation and Maintenance, and Cost Effectiveness After Participation in CP Compared to Traditional Prenatal Care"
Second: Kirsten Winnie, M.D., also for "CenterPregnancy (CP): A Prospective Study to Evaluate Maternal Fetal Outcomes, Breastfeeding Initiation and Maintenance, and Cost Effectiveness After Participation in CP Compared to Traditional Prenatal Care" Broszko and Winnie, along with Amy Whittle, M.D., presented their collaborative study as a team.
Poster presentation
First: Dawn Ommen, M.D., for "Chronic Recurrent Multi-focal Osteomyelitis: A Case Study"
Second: Jenn Harney, M.D., for "Effects of Obstetric Simulation on Interdisciplinary Team Building and Skill Development in a Family Medicine Residency Program"
UNMC medical student chosen for unique international ethics program
Suresh K. Pavuluri, a medical student at the UNMC College of Medicine, is one of 15 medical students chosen by the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE) to participate in a two-week program in Germany and Poland this summer, which uses the conduct of executives and managers in Nazi-occupied Europe as a way to reflect on ethics in business and leadership today.
Now in its eighth year of operation, FASPE provides a unique historical lens to engage graduate students in professional schools as well as early-stage practitioners in five fields (business, journalism, law, medicine, and seminary) in an intensive course of study focused on contemporary ethical issues in their professions.
The FASPE medical program offers an approach that differs from the usual classroom experience in medical schools or graduate bioethics programs by providing a holistic curriculum that looks beyond the specifics of formal rules to focus on ethical problems faced by individual doctors in the various settings in which they practice.
Daily seminars are led by specialized faculty who engage fellows in discussions and critical thinking about both the historical and the contemporary. The medical program is strengthened by the diverse perspectives of its participants and the power of place and context.
"By educating students about the causes of the Holocaust and the power of their chosen professions, FASPE seeks to instill a sense of professional responsibility for the ethical and moral choices that the Fellows will make in their careers and in their professional relationships," said David Goldman, FASPE’s founder and chairman.