Abigail Lowe, PhD, is inaugural Aita Professorship recipient

Abigail Lowe, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Health Promotion in the UNMC College of Public Health, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of a newly created professorship.

Dr. Lowe will hold the Drs. Virginia and John F. Aita Professorship Integrating the Humanities and Arts in Health Promotion. In addition to her UNMC position, she serves as an affiliate faculty member of medical humanities at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

“Dr. Lowe’s exceptional work in ethics, health policy and health security, in addition to her focus on ethical decision-making in public health emergencies, perfectly aligns with Drs. Virginia and John Aita’s vision for this professorship,” said UNMC College of Public Health Dean Ali S. Khan, MD, MPH, who holds the Richard D. Holland Presidential Chair in Public Health. “I am thrilled to see Dr. Lowe recognized with this honor and look forward to witnessing the good work she will do in this role.”

Created through the generosity of Virginia Aita, PhD, and John F. Aita, MD, of Omaha, the professorship will provide an annual stipend to support the recipient’s scholarly research and creative activities. It will eventually become an endowed chair in accordance with the donors’ wishes. The Aitas made the gift commitment through the University of Nebraska Foundation.

Dr. Virginia Aita is a 1995 alumna, earning her graduate degree at UNMC, and is an emerita faculty member of the UNMC College of Public Health. She practiced as a nurse for many years in the area of public health before earning her doctorate in health care humanities and ethics. Dr. John F. Aita is a 1968 alumnus of the UNMC College of Medicine and practiced neurology as a private practitioner from 1973 until 2017.

Throughout her career, Dr. Virginia Aita strived to incorporate the humanities and arts into her practice, teaching and research activities to promote the health of the patients and populations she served as well as her students. While at UNMC, she developed an Enhanced Medical Education Track for medical students interested in the humanities and arts as they relate to health care. Her arts-based research, titled “Portraits of Care,” involved the wider Omaha community in analyzing the importance of the personal connection between the patient and caregiver in health care.

Dr. John F. Aita was dedicated to the personal care and well-being of his patients and their families. He and Virginia often discussed over the dinner table the challenges they faced day-to-day while attempting to provide for the humanistic and compassionate care of patients.

“By creating this professorship, our intention is to promote health through the integration of the humanities and arts into health care practice, teaching and research activities,” the couple said. “We believe Dr. Lowe’s work aligns with the many humanistic and artistic aspects of care that support patient and population well-being.”

The gift was made as part of Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future. The campaign is a historic effort to engage 150,000 benefactors to give $3 billion to support the University of Nebraska. A top campaign priority is to create endowed chairs and professorships to recruit and retain preeminent educators and researchers in every field. Dr. Virginia Aita is a member of the UNMC College of Public Health campaign committee for the Only in Nebraska campaign.