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Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D. | Nancy Keegan |
Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, and Nancy Keegan, businesswoman and longtime University of Nebraska volunteer, are the 2015 recipients of the University of Nebraska Foundation’s annual awards for contributions made to university development and volunteer service.
Dr. Cowan was awarded the Harlan J. Noddle Award for Distinguished Development Service.
“Over the years, my dad and Ken strategized and dreamed about what the med center and, specifically, what the cancer center could be and had great plans to work together,” said Jay Noddle, Harlan Noddle’s son and president and CEO of Noddle Companies. “Unfortunately, dad got sick, and Ken was intimately involved in his treatment protocols and delivered a daily dose of compassion and encouragement.”
View the tribute video to Dr. Cowan.
UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., said, “Ken has been a visionary leader of the cancer center. He came here . . . directly from the National Cancer Institute where he had a very successful career and has continued to grow the research, education and the clinical programs at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.”
Keegan received the Perry W. Branch Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service.
Keegan, a native Nebraskan who lives in Los Angeles, has given of her time to the university and the foundation in many ways over the years. She served on the foundation’s board of directors, including as its chair from 2009 to 2011, and has served on its investment, audit and executive committees, as well as other leadership subcommittees.
View the tribute video to Nancy Keegan.
Keegan was a founding member and champion of Women Investing in Nebraska, an organization started in 2011 by the NU Foundation to address critical community needs and make a local impact with philanthropy.
In addition to her service to the NU Foundation, Keegan has shared her talents with UNMC and Nebraska Medicine as part of their board of directors and advisory board.
Keegan’s grandfather, Dr. J. Jay Keegan, served as dean of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine during the mid-1920s and was among the top neurosurgeons in the nation. To honor him and the Keegan family’s connection to UNMC, Keegan and her husband, Don Voelte, made a major gift to establish a permanently endowed chair in neurosurgery.
“I’ve read a great deal about him [Keegan’s grandfather] and his work ethic, his focus on quality care, his focus on education and science, and I think he’d be very proud,” said Chancellor Gold about Keegan’s receipt of the Branch award.