Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education

Principal Benefactors

 

Ruth and Bill Scott
 
Ruth and Bill Scott


Omaha philanthropists Ruth and Bill Scott provided the lead gift for the Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education.

 

They were joined by the following principal benefactors who, too, made extraordinary commitments to the Sorrell Center and toward improved health education for the entire state.

 

 

The Nebraska Medical Center


 
With a reputation for excellence, innovation and extraordinary patient care, The Nebraska Medical Center has earned the J.D. Powe r and Associates’ Hospital of Distinction Award for inpatient services for three consecutive years. It also received the 2007 Consumer Choice Award, a mark of patient satisfaction as selected by health care consumers and has achieved Magnet recognition status for nursing excellence, Thomson 100 Top Hospitals Performance Improvement Leader recognition, as well as the A ward of Progress from the state of Nebraska’s Edgerton Quality Awards Program.

 

As the teaching hospital for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the 689-licensed bed hospital has an international reputation for providing solid organ and bone marrow transplantation services. It is well known nationally and regionally for its oncology, neurology and cardiology programs.

 

 

Richard D. Holland
 
Richard D. Holland


Whether in the area of education, the arts or medical research, Richard D. Holland is recognized as a generous supporter and contributor to the community where he has spent his life.

 

A native of Omaha, Holland attended the University of Omaha (OU) after graduating from Central High School in 1939. He majored in chemistry until World War II interrupted his studies. Holland served as an officer in the Army Chemical Corps during the war and afterward returned to OU where he decided to major in art. After graduation, Holland took over the advertising agency his father, E. Lewis Holland, had started. In 1964 he helped establish the Holland, Dreves, Reilly advertising agency in Omaha. In 1979 he sold his interest in the agency that became Rollheiser, Holland, Kahler. Holland remained a principal member until he retired in 1985. At that time the agency was the second largest in Omaha. Holland and his late wife, Mary, have been tremendous community visionaries, committing their talents and philanthropic support to a variety of initiatives, projects and programs. They have generously supported the arts, serving in leadership roles with many local arts organizations. The Hollands made the lead gift to the $92 million state-of-the-art performing arts center in downtown Omaha, which opened in 2005 and was named in their honor.

 

The Hollands have been longtime supporters of research as well. Their gift to the Durham Research Center established the Cardiovascular Research Laboratories at UNMC. Additionally, Holland was instrumental in founding the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, which has energized many key business and community leaders to support research in Nebraska. In May, Nebraskans for Research honored Holland at its annual tribute luncheon. Four years earlier UNMC recognized the Hollands with its 2004 Chancellor’s Distinguished Service Award, which is given to individuals or organizations that demonstrate outstanding support for UNMC.

 

The Hollands’ philanthropic interests also have included establishing the Robert T. Reilly Professorship of Communications at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Recently, Holland provided significant funding for the installation of a supercomputer, one of the most powerful in the world, at The Peter Kiewit Institute in the newly named Holland Computing Center.

 

 

 

Dorothy and Stanley M. Truhlsen, M.D.
 
Dorothy and Stanley M. Truhlsen, M.D.


Stanley M. Truhlsen, M.D., emeritus professor and former chairman of UNMC’s department of ophthalmology, is nationally recognized in the field of ophthalmology. He graduated from UNMC in 1944 and received the Distinguished Service to Medicine Award in 2003. A native of Herman, Neb., Dr. Truhlsen completed residencies at Albany Hospital in New York and Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Mo.

 

A private practice physician, he joined UNMC’s ophthalmology department in 1951. Dr. Truhlsen is a past president of the College of Medicine’s Alumni Association and served as president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 1983 and the American Ophthalmological Society (AOS) in 1996. In 2001, he received the Lucien Howe Medal from the AOS, the oldest ophthalmic organization in the United States. The Howe Medal is considered one of the most prestigious awards in ophthalmology and is the only honor award of the AOS. It is given in recognition of “conspicuous services as a researcher or a teacher during long years of devotion” and for contributions to ophthalmology. Founded in 1864, AOS has approximately 225 members. To become a member, an ophthalmologist must be nominated and seconded by society members and then have a thesis accepted.

 

Dr. Truhlsen is now retired and lives in Omaha with his wife, Dorothy, a graduate of the University of Iowa. The Truhlsens were principal benefactors to the Durham Research Center in 2003. Their gift established the Stanley M. Truhlsen, M.D., Eye Research Laboratories on the fourth floor of the building.

 

 

 

The Lozier Foundation

 

 

 

Formed in 1986, The Lozier Foundation is a personal foundation funded by Allan and Dianne Lozier. The foundation’s focus is education, social services and issues involving women and children with an emphasis on the inner city and underrepresented populations. The foundation’s grants are directed exclusively to the immediate Omaha area.

 

A member of the Methodist Hospital board of directors for more than 20 years, Allan Lozier has had a longtime interest in health care.

 

 

 

UNMC Physicians


 
UNMC Physicians is the faculty practice for the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine. As the preeminent physician group in the region, UNMC Physicians is committed to providing innovative, compassionate care for its patients. UNMC Physicians has medical specialists with national and international reputations, including more than 150 physicians who have been recognized among the Best Doctors in America and 30 physicians among the Top Docs in a national survey by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. of New York.

 

The group’s 400 physicians not only know of the latest research, they are doing it. As a result, they engineer miracles and pioneer lifesaving treatments. They also calm worried parents, bring cancer patients hope, replace failing organs with new ones and share new discoveries and knowledge with doctors and researchers around the globe.

 

 

The Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Memorial Foundation
 
Mabel L. and Dr. C.C. Criss

 

The Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Memorial Foundation was established in 1978. The foundation’s support has been for educational and sci entific purposes, including higher education, cultural agencies, youth and social service activities. The insurance industry giant that is today’s Mutual of Omaha began in 1909in the mind of a young Creighton University medical student, C.C. Criss, who sold insurance part-time to help finance his studies. In 1910, while still in school, Dr. Criss and his wife, Mabel, bought the year-old charter
of the Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association.

 

Serving first as treasurer and eventually as president and chairman of the company that became Mutual of Omaha, Dr. Criss pioneered the concept of offering simplified, liberal policies to minimize liability from accident or illness. Mabel Criss provided the organizational and business management skills that enabled the young company to grow and gain a reputation for superior customer service. A highly regarded business leader, Mabel Criss received the Fellowship Award from the National Office Management Association in 1951 – the first woman to be so honored.

 

Over the years, the Criss Foundation has made multiple gifts in support of education and research at UNMC. In 1993, the foundation supported the four-story addition to the Eppley Hall of Science. In 2003, the foundation was one of the principal benefactors of the Durham Research Center, creating the Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Memorial Foundation Seminar Center on the sixth floor of the building.

 


 

UNMC College of Medicine Alumni Association


 
Formally established in 1883, the mission of the UNMC College of Medicine Alumni Association is to engage alumni in the life, promotion and advancement of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine. There have been more than 10,000 proud graduates of the College of Medicine since it was founded in 1881.

 

The College of Medicine Alumni Association and nearly 1,000 individual alumni have contributed more than $12 million for the building o f the new Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education. Membership dues and annual contributions from alumni enable the Alumni Association to provide scholarships for medical students and support for numerous student programs throughout the four-year curriculum. Additionally, through the Alumni Association, individual alumni may continue a tradition of support, by becoming a white coat sponsor. In 2007, 140 College of Medicine alumni sponsored one or more white coats for incoming medical students.

 

The Alumni Association works to keep alumni connected to UNMC through a variety of programs and services, including publication of a biannual magazine called “UNMC Connect” and through electronic communications. The annual Alumni Reunion Weekend, generally held during the fall, provides an opportunity for alumni to return to UNMC to learn about what’s happening on the campus and to reunite and reminisce with classmates and friends. Other alumni programs and outreach efforts held throughout the year include regional receptions and gatherings in connection with University of Nebraska athletic events.

 

A volunteer alumni board provides governance and strategic planning for the College of Medicine Alumni Association and a professional alumni staff manages the operations and programs.

 

 

Karen and Jim Linder, M.D.
 
Karen and Jim Linder, M.D.


Jim Linder, M.D., associate vice chancellor for research at UNMC, has been a key administrator and faculty member at UNMC for 25 years. He also serves as the president and CEO of UNeMed Corporation, the technology transfer office for UNMC.

 

An Omaha native, Dr. Linder received his medical degree from UNMC in 1980 and trained in pathology at Duke University Medical Center. He has served in the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology since 1983. Among his administrative roles at UNMC was serving as interim dean of the College of Medicine from 1998 to 2000. It was during this time that he developed the vision statement for the Sorrell Center. Dr. Linder has led several national pathology organizations and a biotechnology company that pioneered diagnostic and therapeutic devices for women’s health care.

 

Karen Linder is a cytotechnologist, past president of the American Society for Cytotechnology and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Society of Cytology. She was raised in Lincoln, Neb., graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University and trained in cytotechnology at the Clinical Pathology Laboratory in Des Moines, Iowa. As a faculty member at UNMC, Karen Linder founded the cytotechnology program in the School of Allied Health Professions in 1996. She is the founder and president of Heartland Pathology, Inc., a diagnostic laboratory in Omaha. Outside the laboratory, she is an author and successful artist with works in more than 50 private collections.

 

The Linders enjoy their six children, outdoor sports and the arts. Since both are health care professionals, the opportunity to contribute to the design and building of the Center for Health Science Education has been a unique and gratifying experience.