Dr. Vennerstrom a hall of famer
Jonathan Vennerstrom, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, has been named to the American Chemical Society Division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame. Dr. Vennerstrom will be inducted with the rest of the hall’s class of 2025 at a special ceremony Aug. 18 in conjunction with the Fall ACS National Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Vennerstrom has previously been honored by ACS with its 2019 Award for Creative Invention and with a special “Tribute to Jonathan Vennerstrom” issue of ACS Tropical Diseases journal.
He has been hailed worldwide for his groundbreaking work in antiparasitic drug discovery, particularly antimalarial drug design and synthesis and the investigation of heme as a mechanistic intersection for antimalarial drugs.
-Kalani Simpson, UNMC strategic communications
Dr. Stade a hall of famer
Leah Stade, OTD, assistant professor of occupational therapy in the UNMC College of Allied Health Professions, has been selected as one of five to be inducted in the 2025 class of the University of Nebraska at Kearney Athletic Hall of Fame. Dr. Stade and her fellow hall of fame classmates will be inducted at UNK homecoming Oct. 10. They will be recognized on Oct. 12 at UNK’s homecoming parade and at halftime of the Lopers’ homecoming football game against Missouri Western.
Dr. Stade was a three-time All-American in the triple jump from 2000-2002, one of just nine Loper women to have achieved that honor three times. She is one of just six Loper women to have won at least five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference individual titles. She still holds the indoor school record for triple jump at 40 feet, two inches. She helped the Lopers win the 2002 outdoor RMAC title, the first women’s team track and field conference championship in school history.
At UNMC, Dr. Stade also serves as academic fieldwork coordinator and is active within her department and college. She enjoys mentoring, teaching and scholarship. She was honored with an Emerging Educator Award earlier this year at the 2025 Impact in Education Awards.
-Kalani Simpson, UNMC strategic communications
Research project honored by American College of Gastroenterology
A UNMC team’s research project received an award at a recent meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.
The team, under the mentorship of Fedja Rochling, MBBCh, chief of the UNMC Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, included lead author Nurlan Aliyev, MD; Anasua Deb, MD; Bilal Niazi, MD; and Faruq Pradhan, MBBCh.
The research project, titled “Risks of Gastrointestinal Malignancies in Short Bowel Syndrome Patients Treated With Teduglutide: Results From TriNetX,” received the ACG Outstanding Research Award in the Small Intestine Category.
“I am honored to receive the ACG Outstanding Research Award for our work evaluating the safety of teduglutide in patients with short bowel syndrome,” Dr. Aliyev said. “This recognition reflects UNMC’s commitment to advancing evidence-based care for complex gastrointestinal diseases and improving patient outcomes through innovative research.”
-Kelsey Kirk, UNMC strategic communications
iEXCEL receives BioCommunications awards
The iEXCEL program’s visualization content creators and faculty earned national recognition at the 2025 BioCommunications Association BioImages Awards. The BioCommunications Association is an international association of photographers, videographers, illustrators and graphic designers who create visual media for medical and scientific fields.
A video on MDx-Chex blood control, produced in coordination with Streck, won the Education Award, Warren Sturgis Motion Media Award and the Premier Award (1st) in the Multimedia/Interactive category. Credited were Paul Dye with Jer Weann Ang, Brian Curtis, Dheeraj Varandani, Bill Glass, Wesley Fisher and Anthony Lanza
Also receiving Biocommunications Association BioImages 2025 awards were:
- Image of Distinction (3rd) in Multimedia Interactive: Brachial Plexus Web Application
- Images of Merit (Honorary Consideration): WonderVol, Skull Base VR, Perfusion VR
-Elisabeth Barrett, iEXCEL
Congratulations Jonathan! You are a most deserving person to receive this recognition and award. In addition, you are a wonderful person and a tremendous faculty member and friend.