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Lynell Klassen, M.D. |
The 15-member council advises and makes recommendations to the NIAAA director, as well as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), on program and policy matters in the field of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. The council also makes recommendations with respect to NIAAA research.
The appointment was made by the Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt.
“This is a tremendous honor for Dr. Klassen and speaks highly of his stature in this area,” said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. “It’s also a coup for UNMC and the state of Nebraska to have representation on an NIH advisory council charged with helping guide and shape alcohol-related research and policies.”
UNMC College of Medicine Dean John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., agreed.
“The NIAAA Advisory Council includes leading representatives of the NIAAA’s health and scientific disciplines and is clear recognition of Dr. Klassen’s national reputation in this field,” Dr. Gollan said.
Dr. Klassen’s term starts Nov. 1.
“It is a great honor to be able to contribute to the national dialogue on alcohol abuse and alcoholism and help set the research portfolio for the institute,” Dr. Klassen said. “The appointment validates that the comprehensive work multiple investigators are doing at UNMC is of national significance. UNMC faculty have a long history of doing funded alcohol research and, as far as biomedical research, have one of the longest sustained programs in the country.”
Each institute within the NIH has its own advisory board. UNMC’s Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., currently serves on the National Cancer Advisory Board. In the past, Michael Sorrell, M.D., served on the NIAAA Advisory Council and James Armitage, M.D., served on the National Cancer Advisory Board.
Dr. Klassen has served as internal medicine chairman and Henry J. Lehnhoff professor since October 2005.
Dr. Klassen is nationally recognized for his research in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease. He has been continuously funded since 1977 with peer-reviewed grants from NIH and/or the VA Nebraska Western Iowa Health Care System-Omaha division. He currently holds a 10-year NIH MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) award for innovative studies in the role of immune responses in alcohol-associated tissue damage. Dr. Klassen is one of four UNMC researchers to ever receive the prestigious MERIT Award.
Since coming to Nebraska in 1982, Dr. Klassen has served as chief of the section of rheumatology and immunology; vice chairman in UNMC’s Department of Internal Medicine; acting chairman of the department of medicine; chief of rheumatology at the VA Nebraska Western Iowa Health Care System-Omaha division, and associate chief of staff for research at the Omaha VA.
The Kansas native earned his medical degree at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1973 and completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and a rheumatology and immunology fellowship with the Arthritis and Rheumatism Branch of the NIH. He joined UNMC and the Omaha VA in July 1982 after teaching at the University of Iowa College of Medicine and the clinical center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
While at Iowa, Dr. Klassen helped initiate a bone marrow transplant program with Dr. Armitage and served as co-director of the transplant unit. He also was director of the Histocompatibility Tissue Typing Laboratory and developed the first ambulatory care program for the residents at the Iowa City VA Medical Center.
In 1982, Dr. Klassen became chief of rheumatology and immunology in the UNMC Department of Medicine. He again worked with Dr. Armitage to establish a bone marrow transplant program at UNMC, as well as develop the section of rheumatology and immunology into an active clinical and academic unit. Dr. Klassen also established the Experimental Immunology Laboratory at the Omaha VA and formed the first HIV-associated clinic at UNMC.
He has written several case-based curricula that have been used by the American College of Rheumatology nationwide in educational programs for primary care physicians. Dr. Klassen also has held multiple national positions with the American College of Rheumatology and American College of Physicians, as well as served as chairman of several NIH and VA research grant review committees.