Celebrating 10 years as chancellor

The UNMC community today congratulates Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, on 10 years as UNMC chancellor.

Dr. Gold became UNMC’s eighth chancellor on Feb. 1, 2014, as well as chair of the board of UNMC’s principal clinical care academic health system partner, Nebraska Medicine.

“It is an honor to serve this medical center,” Dr. Gold said. “I am extremely proud of the work we have done together to educate health care professionals, build the state’s workforce, grow our research enterprise in size and impact, provide top-notch clinical care, enhance public-private partnerships locally and at the national level, and become a global player in biopreparedness and infectious diseases, as well as numerous other areas.

“As I’ve said many times, the best decision I made was proposing to my wife 50 years ago; the second-best decision that I ever made was to come to Nebraska.”

Under Dr. Gold’s leadership, UNMC and Nebraska Medicine have grown its missions to teach, discover, cure and engage, in many ways fulfilling the message of his investiture speech 10 years ago, which was titled: “From Excellence to Eminence.”

A few of the many UNMC accomplishments under Dr. Gold’s leadership:

• Built and successfully implemented the governance structure for the primary clinical enterprise, Nebraska Medicine.
• Solidified the mission, vision and values of UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, as well as the national iconic brand signature.
• Grew the UNMC program enrollment by over 1,000 learners in rural and urban Nebraska, more than 40%.
• Grew the research grants and contracts from $89 million to $250 million, with significant increases in patents, license agreements and research impact.
• Raised, to date, over $800 million in private philanthropy from more than 70,000 donations, with more than this amount committed over the next five years.
• Cared for Ebola patients in 2014-15 in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, at the request of the U.S. Department of State. The partnership led to a $12 million grant to establish and co-lead what is known today as the National Emerging Special Pathogen Teaching and Education Center (NETEC).
• Exceeded prior records for media impact for UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, peaking in the billions in 2021.
• Supported the federal government in monitoring individuals in the Nebraska Quarantine Unit for COVID-19 symptoms at the onset of the pandemic, and then navigated the campus and community as the pandemic continued.
• Launched iEXCEL to transform health science education through the adoption of high-fidelity simulation, interprofessional collaboration and experiential learning technologies.
• Celebrated grand openings of such new facilities as the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, the Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center, the Munroe-Meyer Institute, the Center for Drug Discovery and Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences and Education, the Wigton Heritage Center and a renovated McGoogan Health Science Library.
• Expanded UNMC’s academic programs, both in Omaha and throughout the state. Notably, UNMC continues to expand its offerings on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus, with construction of the Douglas A. Kristensen Rural Health Education Complex.
• Redeveloped the Saddle Creek Road corridor, which, when completed, will include the Campus Operations and Research Excellence facility to support computer-based research and wet lab-based research, and the Catalyst building, which will bring together UNMC’s UNeMed and UNeTech branches with biotech and technology startups.
• Served four years as chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and since July 2021, as executive vice president and provost of the University of Nebraska system.

At his investiture in 2014, Dr. Gold said: “I will work relentlessly … to build the future for this great university, the communities we serve, for the state of Nebraska and beyond.”

Ten years later, that work continues, he said.

UNMC Today invites the med center community to congratulate Chancellor Gold in the comments below.