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Lori and Paul Hogan |
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Le Kang, Ph.D. |
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Joel Johnson, M.D. |
At this ceremony and three others being held around the state in the next week, 693 UNMC students will be awarded certificates or degrees.
Today, Lori and Paul Hogan will be honored with the UNMC Chancellor’s Distinguished Service Award.
From its founding in 1994 by the Hogans, Home Instead Senior Care has grown into the largest senior care business of its kind in the world. In 15 years, it has provided services to more than 1 million seniors through a network of more than 850 franchise offices in the United States, Puerto Rico and 14 other countries. International revenues for 2009 are expected to exceed $760 million.
Demonstrating their commitment to enhancing the lives of seniors everywhere, the Hogans became anchor donors for the Home Instead Center for Successful Aging in 2008. This unique partnership between the UNMC and Home Instead Senior Care is focused on a common goal — to find solutions with the potential to touch the lives of thousands or even millions of seniors around the world, and to truly help seniors age more successfully.
The UNMC Chancellor’s Distinguished Service Award is given to individuals or organizations that have demonstrated outstanding support for UNMC by way of personal service, private contributions or other meritorious advocacy for the campus mission. The chancellor, in consultation with other UNMC leaders, selects the recipient.
Joel Johnson, M.D., of Kearney, Neb., will receive the J.G. “Jack” Elliott Award, for improving the health of all Nebraskans, through his work as a physician, as a Nebraska legislator and as a wellness advocate.
A surgeon for nearly 40 years in central Nebraska, Dr. Johnson was appointed to the Nebraska Legislature in 2002 and was elected two years later. From 2006 to 2008, he was the chairman of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee and also was a member of the Education Committee. During his tenure in the unicameral, Dr. Johnson championed numerous health care initiatives.
He was the lead sponsor of the New Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act, which requires that every Nebraska indoor workplace be smoke-free. The act’s purpose is to protect the public health and welfare, by prohibiting smoking throughout public places and places of employment. It will become effective on June 1.
During his career as a physician, Dr. Johnson was particularly interested in emergency medical services and trauma. His knowledge of and appreciation for emergency medicine was piqued during his tenure as a lieutenant commander aboard a hospital ship during the Vietnam War.
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The J.G. Elliott Award is given annually in memory of Elliott, a former Scottsbluff resident who served on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents for 20 years until his death in 1974.
Le Kang, Ph.D., will receive an Honorary Doctor of Science degree in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science and his collaboration efforts with UNMC.
Dr. Kang currently is professor and president of the Beijing Life Science Institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the most prestigious research institution in China.
During the past four years, Dr. Kang has been a key player and advocate for close collaborations between the CAS and UNMC. This partnership began in 2004 and has involved student and faculty exchanges, as well as research collaboration.
In September 2007, the two institutions signed an agreement to establish a Joint Research Center between the CAS and UNMC, and in August 2008, the China-U.S. Joint Center for Life Sciences was established, largely due to the collaborative spirit of Dr. Kang.
As a scientist, Dr. Kang has made outstanding achievements and is highly recognized internationally as an expert in integrative biology. His research is dedicated to the physiology and behavior science of locust, which is an important model organism in the study of physiology, neurobiology, genetics and behavior.