Teresa Berg, MD, looks back on her nearly four-decade career with gratitude.
An associate professor in the UNMC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Berg said it’s been a pleasure to work with her colleagues at the med center and with the nursing staff she’s known over the years.
Just as much, she appreciates being able to care for so many women at such vulnerable times in their lives. In all, she said her career has been “very rewarding.”
“It’s been a lot of fun to watching things change over time,” she said.
Now, Dr. Berg will retire from UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, after 35 years at UNMC and 39 years total in medicine.
Dr. Berg’s colleagues praised her skills as a leader, a clinician and an educator whose career guided the growth of the department, built the system of OB-GYN physicians around Nebraska and served her field with dedication.
Carl Smith, MD, former chair of the department and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, said he had the “supreme privilege” of working with Dr. Berg for more than three decades and in two separate institutions.
“She is one the finest clinician educators I have encountered,” Dr. Smith said. “She is superb obstetric surgeon and clinician who has served as an excellent role model for a generation of medical students and residents.”
He added: “Dr. Berg could always be counted on to do the right thing and is an effective patient and nursing advocate. She has left wonderful legacy that will ensure a vibrant department for many years to come.”
In her note announcing Dr. Berg’s retirement, Sarosh Rana, the Endowed Chris J. and Marie A. Olson Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said that as residency program director, Dr. Berg “breathed new life into resident education upon her return in 2002.”
“Dr. Berg has been a dedicated clinician educator during her tenure at UNMC and can be credited with significant contributions to maternal health, resident education, and ever-changing treatments and new frontiers for high-risk pregnancy,” Dr. Rana said.
“Please join me in congratulating Dr. Berg on her tremendous career and wishing her all the best in this next chapter of her life.”
After growing up in the small town of Lemmon, South Dakota, Dr. Berg said she’s proud of her role expanding maternal-fetal medicine care to rural communities in Nebraska.
While the department chairs current and past acclaimed Dr. Berg’s leadership over the years, she had a more understated response, saying that “it’s been nice to see the division get to this point.”
She said she found it fulfilling to stay in the teaching environment of an academic medical center and stay involved in residency education. “Between medical students and residency, our department has touched a lot of physicians throughout the state,” she said.
Now the South Dakota native who came to Nebraska for her residency plans to return to her home state in retirement with her husband, Greg Babbe, MD. Dr. Babbe was a longtime UNMC faculty member in family medicine who retired in 2021 and came to Nebraska with Dr. Berg for their residencies.
“It’s been a wonderful place to raise children,” Dr. Berg said. “My husband and I had successful and rewarding careers here. It’s just time to take a next step in life.”