Allergy and immunology fellowship program nets ACAAI grant
The UNMC Division of Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program is a recipient of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Pathways to Practice (P2P) grant.
This grant program is intended to expand access to allergy and immunology care across the country by supporting U.S. allergy fellowship training positions and fellows who are committed to entering community-based practice.
The grant provides funding of $125,000 per year, allowing UNMC’s two-year fellowship program to support an extra fellow starting July 2027.
Sara May, MD, fellowship program director, said she is excited to grow the program.
“At a time when securing graduate medical education funding has become increasingly challenging, the ACAAI Pathways to Practice grant provides an extraordinary opportunity to expand allergy and immunology training where it is needed most,” she said.
-Maria Ball, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine
Mello finishes term as AAMC steering committee chair
Catherine Mello, director of the UNMC Office of Alumni Relations, has completed a 13-month term as the chair of the steering committee for the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Group on Institutional Advancement.
The group includes development officers, alumni relations professionals, communications professionals and marketing professionals who support colleges of medicine. A high point of her term was chairing the group’s annual professional development conference, which drew more than 600 attendees last spring.
“Group leaders and steering committee members are an essential link between the AAMC and its member institutions,” David Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO, told Mello in a letter. “Your dedication has been critical to the success of the Group on Institutional Advancement, the academic medicine community, and the AAMC.”
UNMC Interim Chancellor H. Dele Davies, MD, congratulated Mello on her year as chair.
“Catherine Mello was a distinguished ambassador for UNMC during her tenure as the chair of the steering committee for the AAMC’s Group on Institutional Advancement,” Dr. Davies said. “We congratulate her on the end of her term, a significant national accomplishment with contributions that have made a meaningful difference to the committee, the broader academic medicine community and UNMC.”
Mello, who has served on the steering committee in several different capacities, will be past president for the next year.
-John Keenan, UNMC strategic communications
Kendra Clark, PhD, selected as VA women’s health scholar
Kendra Clark, PhD, researcher with the UNMC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has been selected as one of four inaugural VA Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Scholars.
The program is a newly established national initiative created through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health. The program is designed to support early‑career investigators conducting interdisciplinary research in women’s health and sex differences by pairing them with experienced mentors and established research environments.
Dr. Clark has been matched with the Magee‑Womens Research Institute in Pittsburgh, one of the nation’s premier research centers devoted exclusively to women’s and infants’ health.
Being chosen as an inaugural VA‑BIRCWH Scholar is a significant achievement and speaks to Dr. Clark’s potential as a future leader in women’s health research. Her selection also reflects positively on our department’s commitment to advancing impactful, interdisciplinary scholarship and supporting early‑career investigators.
-UNMC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology