UNMC: Creating a healthier future

UNMC medical student Uyen Tran offers a simulated look at some of iEXCEL's health care simulation capability, examining a 3D brain model based on MRI data within an Augmented Reality head mounted display.

Creating a healthier future for Nebraska and beyond is the cornerstone of UNMC’s mission. From discovering and advancing breakthroughs in medicine to promoting public health initiatives, utilizing cutting-edge education techniques and more, UNMC is making Nebraska — and the world — a healthier place for all.

  • UNMC’s many efforts to increase the health and medical workforce in Nebraska include the University of Nebraska at Kearney-UNMC Rural Health Education Building, set to open in 2026. It will allow, for the first time, medical, pharmacy and public health students to attend UNMC classes on the Kearney campus.
  • More than 135,000 learners and visitors to UNMC’s iEXCEL have received high-fidelity training and participated in activities involving surgical, clinical and human simulation.
  • From 2010 to 2020, UNMC’s Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska has helped increase the number of behavioral health providers in Nebraska by 32% among psychiatric prescribers and 39% among psychologists and mental health therapists.
  • UNMC currently has 37 health-care related innovations licensed and on the market as products, including 3D printed nasal swabs, an intubation shield and an aerosol capture device.
  • UNMC’s new Innovation Hub at the Catalyst, part of its redevelopment of the Saddle Creek area in Omaha, will bring UNMC’s UNeMed and UNeTech branches together to facilitate the growth of research and innovation to create even more breakthroughs.
  • UNMC’s Munroe-Meyer Institute provides evidence-based and cutting-edge, innovative services for youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in 84 Nebraska counties and 21 states.
  • The Frederick F. Paustian Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at the Nebraska Medical Center was created with the goal of becoming of one of the top centers in the country for treatment and UNMC-led research of inflammatory bowel disease.
  • Last year, the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH) held 148 agricultural safety classes for workers and youth across the region.
  • In an important annual collaboration with Nebraska Extension, CS-CASH traveled across Nebraska training 110 teenagers as part of a National Tractor and Equipment Safety Certification course, conducted more than 750 outreach activities (214 in Nebraska, and provided nearly 2,000 hours of safety training to 2,739 employees in 29 feedlots across 11 states in the last fiscal year alone).
  • In 2023, a CS-CASH mental health program provided 248 rural citizens with evidence-based suicide prevention training. Another initiative increased the capacity of 20 health professionals to identify, refer and treat farmers that may benefit from mental health services/resources.
  • UNMC faculty and students together have created hundreds of health professions-focused, interactive E-learning modules that have been accessed more than 338,000 times by 86,000 distinct users from 195 countries.
  • The uBEATS E-learning program, led by UNMC, is spreading health science education to sixth through 12th grade students in Nebraska and 32 other states across the country. Some 26,365 students have enrolled in uBEATS and its e-learning modules since the program launched in 2020.