Kurtis Cornish, PhD, emeritus professor in the UNMC Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology (CIP), died March 28 at the age of 79.
Dr. Cornish, who joined UNMC in 1979 as a post-doctoral fellow and retired in 2015, was renowned as an educator, winning UNMC College of Medicine teaching awards so often that he was named to the "Golden Apple Hall of Fame" in 2011 — one of only seven UNMC educators to be so honored.
That year, he also received the University of Nebraska’s Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award. At Dr. Cornish’s retirement reception, it took two slides on a PowerPoint presentation to list all the teaching accolades he received in his career.
Irving Zucker, PhD, Theodore F. Hubbard Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology and previous chair of the department, said he was proud to call Dr. Cornish a colleague.
"Kurtis and I worked and published together for many years," Dr. Zucker said. "He was a master surgeon and was instrumental in many of our studies. He was a superb interventionalist; he could do a lot of techniques in the laboratory. We collaborated together on several research projects supported by the NIH and NASA."
But, Dr. Zucker said, his legacy as a teacher may be unparalleled.
"He took over much of the cardiovascular block; he taught it all himself," he said. "And he supervised the entire medical physiology course.
"He pioneered many teaching techniques at UNMC and knew each student by name," Dr. Zucker said. "He helped put our department on the map at UNMC and elsewhere."
Dr. Zucker was one of many who praised Dr. Cornish’s teaching skills, calling him a "master" educator. One example of his dedication — he was known for preparing for new classes by getting photos of each student, so he knew faces and names before the classes began. He also was known for demonstrating procedures, such as placing a nasal gastric tube, on himself to better explain the process to students.
"I love to teach and love to work with the students," Dr. Cornish said in 2004. "It's what makes my job worthwhile."
In addition, he developed new teaching materials, especially in the cardiovascular area, Dr. Zucker said.
George Rozanski, PhD, emeritus professor in the UNMC Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, said he was struck by Dr. Cornish’s passion for teaching and dedication to his students.
"Kurtis elevated the standard for physiology education in our entire department that helped make CIP one of the best teaching departments on campus," Dr. Rozanski said. "He has left a lasting legacy at UNMC for which we all can be grateful."
"Dr. Cornish was a great teacher and made important contributions to our understanding of cardiovascular function," said UNMC colleague Harold Schultz, PhD, professor of physiology. "He was a leader in the use of computers for data collection and analysis. I remember the room-size computer he had in Bennett Hall."
Emeritus Professor Gerald Moore, MD, said Dr. Cornish will be missed.
"The College of Medicine has lost a consummate teacher who was well liked by the students," Dr. Moore said. "Kurtis was a passionate educator who was supportive of changes in the curriculum resulting in improved education for our medical students."
A veteran of the U.S. Army Medical Corps who served as a medic in Vietnam, Dr. Cornish earned his PhD at Wake Forest University.
He was a gentleman and a scholar and brought such charism to the medical school!
Thinking about him makes me smile!
Sad to hear this. He was an outstanding educator.
Ardith A Ryberg, MD, PhD, FACS
A wonderful mentor for my PhD. Worked many hours in our OR with him. Enjoyed his company as a friend while attending Physiology seminars in 2014/2015.
And he was so meek. Never flaunting all
he accomplished in his work and for our church. I also know what great help you were to him and the rest of us at church.
An amazing educator who memorized ALL of our names! For that, he was very memorable 🙂
Dr. Cornish was one of my all time favorite professors. He made cardiac physiology easy to understand, and took the time to learn everyone’s name in our large class. With his medic background he was able to really prepare us for our 3rd year rotations and real life medicine. He truly made an impact on the education of so many physicians in Nebraska. ( UNMC class of 2006)
So sorry to hear of Dr. Cornish’s passing sending condolences to his family and the department.
Kurtis was a great neighbor. In the wintertime we would have a contest to see who could plow the snow off the neighbor's driveways the fastest.
I am very sorry to hear of Kurtis’ passing. He and I were friends when I was a grad student and he was a post-doc. He was gifted in so many ways. While I had not seen him in decades, I’ve always treasured our times in Physiology together.