C-STARS Director Schnaubelt, MD, promoted to colonel

In a stirring ceremony in January, United States Air Force Lt. Col. Elizabeth Schnaubelt, MD, medical director of the U.S. Air Force Center for Sustainment of Trauma Readiness Skills (C-STARS) Omaha, based at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, was promoted to the rank of colonel.

She was officially promoted by her father, United States Army Col. (ret.) Thomas Rini. Her family, including her mother, sisters, husband and young son, helped pin the new rank insignia to her uniform as friends, members of her C-STARS team and longtime medical center colleagues looked on and applauded.

Col. Schnaubelt’s longtime friend, U.S. Army Col. Tatjana Calvano, acted as master of ceremonies for the event.

Col. Schnaubelt said she initially joined the Air Force with the goal of flying jets, before a mission trip to Haiti set her on a new path.

“I recognized the immense poverty and what impact medicine, and public and global health, can have in improving the lives of others,” she said. “I sold my parachute and started going to medical school, and I couldn’t be happier with that choice.”

She also thanked her team and med center colleagues.

“Thank you for being here and continuing to press toward this mission,” she said. “Every member of our team brings something unique, important and special, and I want to thank you. I know it’s been a rocky road along the way, and I am certain there will be more bumps and growing pains, but we couldn’t ask for better partners along this journey. And I thank you for what you do each and every day.

Col. Schnaubelt also thanked her UNMC and Nebraska Medicine colleagues for their tremendous support of the C-STARS Omaha mission. C-STARS Omaha is a training program through the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, or USAFSAM, in collaboration with UNMC. USAFSAM is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing.

Members of her team and the iEXCEL program also arranged for Col. Schnaubelt to receive a holographic message of congratulations from her supervisor, Col. Leslie Wood, chair of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine Department of En Route Care Training, following the ceremony.

Chris Kratochvil, MD, Distinguished Chair for the Global Center for Health Security and interim vice president for external relations for the University of Nebraska System, said he was proud to see Col. Schnaubelt recognized.

“She’s an amazing partner who has developed not only an incredible team but has created a synergy in our work with the Global Center for Health Security and set the standard for partnerships between academia and the military,” Dr. Kratochvil said.

Dossy Felts, GCHS associate director of administration and operations, called Col. Schnaubelt a huge champion of the collaboration between the Air Force and the GCHS.

“She’s built a great team here,” he said.

UNMC Interim Chancellor Dele Davies, MD, congratulated Col. Schnaubelt on her promotion.

“Dr. Schnaubelt is a caring physician and a dedicated officer,” he said. “Her work in Nebraska and beyond, as both a doctor and a leader, has helped countless people, made our country safer and, through our collaborations and trainings, allowed UNMC and Nebraska Medicine to play a role in protecting the military doctors and nurses who care for the men and women serving our country.”

Jim Linder, MD, CEO and Board Chair of Nebraska Medicine, said:

“Col. Schnaubelt’s promotion is a reflection of the excellence she’s achieved in her military and medical career. Her leadership is a vital element of the important partnerships that allows Nebraska Medicine and UNMC to have an impact across the country.”

Col. Schnaubelt joined the UNMC and Nebraska Medicine team in 2018, when she was assigned as the inaugural director for C-STARS Omaha. The program’s mission is to advance the readiness skills and competency of U.S. Air Force medical personnel so they can provide safe and effective care for patients who have contracted or may have been exposed to highly hazardous infectious diseases.

In addition to her significant responsibilities as the C-STARS Omaha director, Col. Schnaubelt maintains a clinical role attending on the orthopedic infectious diseases services in the UNMC Division of Infectious Diseases, participating in the clinical and educational missions of UNMC. As a scholar of the UNMC Global Center for Health Security, Col. Schnaubelt leverages her experience in infectious diseases and military medicine to closely collaborate with GCHS and UNMC, driving biopreparedness training and global health security.