Geena Tangeman, MD

Name:

Geena Tangeman

What interested you most in UNMC?:

I am a born and raised small town Nebraska girl and the oldest of four kids. Growing up UNMC was THE place to go for health care when you were sick, even if that mean driving hours across the state. I just always knew growing up this is where I wanted to go, to learn from the best in the state and to still be close to my family. Then, when I started applying to medical schools, I learned of the Advanced Family Medicine Program where I could essentially start my residency as a 4th year medical student and get extra training to go back out to small town Nebraska to best serve the people there which was always my dream.

What was your first job?

My official first job were I filled out a W-2, was working at Menards. Prior to that, I did a bunch of odd jobs including delivering phone books with my family, detasseling corn, babysitting, and weed whacking our local cemeteries.

What is the furthest you've traveled from Omaha?:

Roatan, Honduras. My senior year of college I took Marine Conservation Biology and we spent 10 days in Honduras scuba diving and learning about coral preservation. The cool thing about a scuba certification is that you are certified for life so I hope to soon travel to Belize as I have heard wonderful things about their coral reefs!

Career aspirations: 

My goal would to make the majority of my practice Women's Health, Obstetrics, and Pediatrics, with just a sprinkle of all other things Family Medicine. Obstetrics and Women's Health are my two biggest passions and growing up I never had access to a female primary care doctor in my rural community and it became my goal to grow up and be someone who woman can come to and feel comfortable.

If you couldn't work in medicine, what would you do?:

My chemistry professor in college always told us we needed a plan A-F. Plan A was always to be physician but plan B would definitely have to be Wedding Event Planning. Plan C would definitely be open up a Bakery.

If you only had one day in Nebraska, what would you do?:

I would spend it tubing down the Niobrara River and seeing Smith Falls. Then going back to my camping site at Keller State Park (in Ainsworth, NE), make a nice campfire, and eat smores with my family.

Most fond residency experience or memory up to this point?:

One of the coolest things, especially with my love of Obstetrics, was primarying a c-section with two of my co-residents and Advanced Track people, Drs. Jeff Wallman and Rose Nelson. Jeff served as my second assist with Rose as our third assist. It was a really cool experience doing it with my friends who plan to all go out do obstetrics and c-sections in rural Nebraska. Our attending was also present but it all went so well she just observed.