This profile is part of a series to highlight the researchers and leaders who will be honored at a ceremony on Nov. 6 for UNMC’s annual research awards – the prestigious Scientist Laureate Award and the Research Leadership, Distinguished Scientist, New Investigator, Career Achievement and Community Service to Research Awards.
Distinguished Scientist
Distinguished Scientist Awards, which are sponsored by the chancellor, recognize researchers who have been among the most productive scientists at UNMC during the past five years.
- Name: Elizabeth Beam, PhD
- Title: Associate professor, UNMC College of Nursing-Omaha Division
- Joined UNMC: 2004
- Hometown: Omaha
Describe your research focus in three words or less:
Health workforce safety
Why is research important in the world today?
Research allows us to make changes thoughtfully. Whether my research is related to creating educational activities for our future health care workforce or investigating safety behaviors in clinical care of patients ill with a high consequence infectious disease, the questions are always real and practical. The research we communicate well leads to innovation the public can trust. I think moving these innovations forward in a genuine way can help the world come together for good.
My research will make a difference because:
Working in the health care sector today is more challenging than ever. The enthusiasm of our students always gives me hope. The opportunity to make even a small difference in the burden on these incredible people willing to care for others, sometimes at great personal risk, is worth everything to me. Critical decisions and situations require teamwork and communication skills that we must prepare students for so that they can hit the ground running. The educational methods and tools we use in health care must be purpose-built and created with human centered design to meet these challenges.
The best advice I’ve ever received is:
Along the lines of my work with personal protective equipment, “if it’s wet and not yours, don’t touch it” has always served me well both personally and as an instructor. Both funny and true. The advice came from Ann Fitzgerald, a guest speaker we had in my master’s program at the UNMC College of Nursing in the early 2000s.
Three things you may not know about me are:
- I wrote pen pal letters throughout my K-12 years to my grandmother’s second grade teacher Florence from Kenesaw, Nebraska. I learned from her that in some weird way through marriage way back on my mother’s side, I am related to Jim Armitage. I still have all of her letters.
- I love sunflowers because they are so resilient and willing to adapt. I find watching bees do their work really fascinating.
- While I love to travel and engage with people, being home with my family and making memories there means the world to me.