Sarah Hankin UNMC strategic communications

Repurposing HIV drugs to fight Alzheimer’s

Anna Frie is awarded the Nancy and Ronald Reagan Alzheimer’s Scholarship Award for her project titled “Leveraging antiviral drug repurposing to inhibit NLRP3-mediated neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Jun 29, 2026

Anna Frie poses with Sowmya Yelamanchili, PhD, and Gurudutt Pendyala with her award certificate.

Faculty promotions

The UNMC Department of Anesthesiology is proud to recognize the following promotions, effective July 1.

Jun 29, 2026

Maria Michaelis, MD

UNMC student brings Alzheimer’s research to national hackathon at Allen Institute

Foroughi-Nezhad, a second-year PhD student in the lab of Gurudutt Pendyala, PhD, was one of just 18 researchers selected from a global applicant pool to attend the hackathon-style workshop in Seattle this May.

Jun 29, 2026

UNMC Department of Anesthesiology celebrates class of 2026 at annual graduation ceremony

The UNMC Department of Anesthesiology gathered the evening of Saturday, June 20, to honor its graduating residents and fellows at the department’s annual graduation celebration.

Jun 29, 2026

Eleven graduates from the anesthesiology graduation pose together in front of a fireplace at Omaha Country Club.

Cale Kassel, MD, named director to Nebraska Society of Anesthesiologists

Cale Kassel, MD, has been named director of the Nebraska Society of Anesthesiologists Board of Directors, and Lauren Costello, MD, will serve as alternate director.

Jun 29, 2026

Cale Kassel, MD, and Lauren Costello, MD, representing UNMC on the national stage.

UNMC Department of Anesthesiology joins national oxygen trial

UNMC is one of four sites nationwide participating in IntraOp Ox, a two-year, multicenter study examining whether intraoperative oxygen levels affect patient outcomes including organ injury and mortality.

Jun 29, 2026

Levi Zehr, MD, site principal investigator
Outreach, Research, workforce

Study highlights Nebraska’s behavioral health workforce model

The Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska published policy lessons from its experience distributing pandemic relief funds.

Jun 29, 2026

Jessica Buche
Outreach

BHECN’s workforce model takes center stage

At a policy event in May, the National Governors Association featured BHECN’s ‘Nebraska Model’ for behavioral health workforce development.

Jun 26, 2026

Marley Doyle, MD, director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska, and Katrina Cordts, PhD, BHECN’s deputy director
Education

Diagnosing a passion: UNMC’s High School Alliance

Launched in 2010, the program helps teens chart their future by showing them a bit of everything in the health science professions.

Jun 23, 2026

Heidi Kaschke, director of the High School Alliance, guides budding scientists in a lab experiment.
UNMC Community

Gold U recipient Ward is a trusted resource in UNMC compliance

Sara Ward, UNMC’s associate director of campus compliance, will be honored at Thursday’s NU Board of Regents meeting.

Jun 17, 2026

Sara Ward
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