Five faculty members at the University of Nebraska Medical Center were honored last week with awards for their exceptional teaching, mentoring and community service. The faculty received their awards at the Annual Faculty Meeting recently at the Durham Research Center on the main UNMC campus in Omaha.
The awardees included:
Outstanding Teacher Awards – Janet Cuddigan, Ph.D., College of Nursing; Carol Lomneth, Ph.D., College of Medicine; J. Scott Neumeister, M.D., College of Medicine
Outstanding Mentor of Graduate Students Award – Joyce Solheim, Ph.D., Eppley Institute
Community Service Award – Linda Sather, Ed.D., College of Nursing
Dr. Cuddigan is the department chair of Adult Health and Illness in the College of Nursing. She works with students in classroom and clinic settings. However, she most enjoys teaching her students to become competent, compassionate caregivers. Dr. Cuddigan is involved in pressure ulcer research and is considered a national expert on its prevention and treatment.
Dr. Lomneth is an assistant professor of genetics, cell biology and anatomy in the College of Medicine. In the classroom, she teaches about the structure and development of the human body. While in the laboratory, Dr. Lomneth instructs students in gross anatomy and histology which gives her the opportunity to work one-on-one with students. As a member of the Nebraska Anatomical Board, she assists with oversight of the deeded body program which acquires about 200 donations per year.
Dr. Neumeister, professor of internal medicine in the College of Medicine, logs more than 1,000 formal teaching hours annually. The massive load is one he took on after the death of legendary UNMC educator, LeeRoy Meyer, M.D., in 2005. Students are constantly challenged to come prepared to Dr. Neumeister’s classes as he likes to give daily quizzes. Dr. Neumeister also is active in the American College of Physicians and teaches a portion of a week-long course for internists.
Reflecting on the value of her own Ph.D. mentor, Dr. Solheim strives to fill that role for about 40 UNMC students. She guides, counsels, collaborates and supports their ideas and research. She is an associate professor at the Eppley Institute at UNMC and director of its Cancer Research Training Program. In that role, she also heads admission committees for graduate and undergraduate research programs. Dr. Solheim also conducts her own research on immune responses and works to develop new approaches to cancer treatment.
An interest in public health fuels Dr. Sather’s passion for community service. As director of the Mobile Nursing Center (MNC), she travels across the metropolitan area to provide free blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar screenings. She works tirelessly not only for her patients but to obtain new grants to fund the MNC. Dr. Sather is an assistant professor in the College of Nursing.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $80 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.