Matt Mormino, M.D., is one of four faculty members who will receive UNMC’s Outstanding Teacher Award Thursday, April 11 at 4 p.m. during the Annual Faculty meeting in the Eppley Science Hall Amphitheater. He is the second award recipient to be profiled in UNMC Today.
Students who are late to the weekly 6 a.m. fracture conferences led by Matt Mormino, M.D., often learn about one of his notorious traits the hard way.
“I’m a stickler for punctuality,” Dr. Mormino said. “As people walk in, I ask them a question. Since they had those few extra minutes of sleep, they should be refreshed and ready to give an answer.” Not eager to suffer further humiliation, his students often think twice before hitting the snooze button.
Dr. Mormino’s nominators for the Outstanding Teacher Award marveled at his willingness to regularly lead a conference at such an early hour, but Dr. Mormino sees it as his duty to do everything in his power to share his knowledge and talent with others.
Dr. Mormino is the orthopaedic residency program coordinator and director of orthopaedic trauma service. He also guides residents through an apprenticeship in which he models orthopaedic surgical skills.
“I’m in a group of incredibly intelligent, but inexperienced surgeons,” he said. “It’s gratifying to work with them and see the light bulb go on in their heads, knowing that their lives will be different from that point forward. They’ll be better for having known the knowledge that I gave them.”
Before he came to UNMC to serve as the first director of the orthopaedic trauma service, only two residents in the history of the department of orthopaedic surgery and rehabilitation went on to specialize in orthopaedic trauma. One of these residents was Dr. Mormino, who spent five years at UNMC during his orthopaedic surgery residency.
After his residency, he spent a year at the University of Washington on a trauma fellowship. He returned to UNMC in 1997 because he had talent that UNMC needed — not one orthopaedic surgeon in Nebraska specialized in fracture care. In the four years since his return, three residents have followed Dr. Mormino’s path and continued into orthopaedic trauma.
“His knowledge, instincts, and ability to communicate are so good that he can stand back a few feet and verbally guide a resident through a case which even an established surgeon was unable or unwilling to take on,” one nominator wrote. “Dr. Mormino has personally influenced the choice of many people’s careers.”
That influence extends beyond the operating rooms and lectures. In addition to placing value on time, Dr. Mormino also strongly values the rights of individual patients to receive the best care possible, “whether it’s the son of a Forbes 500 entrepreneur or a homeless man from the St. Francis mission,” one nominator wrote.
“Sometimes patients come in and people tell me, ‘They’re a VIP,'” he said. “I say they’re all VIPs.”
Those he mentors equally respect him. The orthopaedic residents have given him the Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching Orthopaedic Surgery Residents three years in a row.
There’s no need for him to give separate lectures on patient care, preparedness or responsibility. Those values are taught by example — Dr. Mormino’s method for teaching the non-textbook principles.
“They see me living what I teach,” he said. “It’s more believable that way.”