{"id":126473,"date":"2025-10-07T17:42:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T22:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=126473"},"modified":"2025-10-07T17:42:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T22:42:47","slug":"message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n<p>Dear Department of Internal Medicine colleagues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are trying times \u2013 the headlines are truly alarming:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Government shutdown, mass furloughs and layoffs, frozen funds and rescinded monies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Organized assault on institutions of higher education, anti-science movement, anti-public health efforts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Degradation of free speech and rule of law, and the rise of intolerance and political violence<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Conflicts across the globe<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>How should we approach these challenging times?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, although there is a natural impulse to withdraw, focus on our own personal lives and relationships, and hope for the best, I encourage you to stay engaged.\u00a0You are fully within your rights to express yourself \u2013 just stay within the bounds of the rules that govern our UNMC employee status and be aware of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/aboutus\/government-relations\/advocacy.html\">these guidelines<\/a>.\u00a0Second, if you feel the need for mental health support, please reach out via these confidential pathways: <a href=\"https:\/\/info.unmc.edu\/benefits\/eap.html\">UNMC Employee Assistance Program<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/onfirstup.com\/nebraskamedicine\/nebraskamedicine\/contents\/40575490\">Nebraska Medicine Support Resources<\/a>. Third, it is good to periodically unwind, unplug, and get away from the 24-hour news cycle and social media.\u00a0I personally find solace in observing nature \u2013 even if only in my backyard garden.\u00a0You may find the same rejuvenation from taking a walk, riding a bike, attending your child&#8217;s school performance, getting lost in a novel \u2013 find what helps and take some time to indulge. In these trying times, please approach one another with a bit more grace, humility, and patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the days get shorter and cooler, please appreciate the fall season \u2013 the changing foliage, a high school or college football game, trick-or-treat and Halloween decorations, or the neighborhood Octoberfest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Times will transition and we will persevere.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Department of Internal Medicine colleagues: These are trying times \u2013 the headlines are truly alarming: How should we approach these challenging times? First, although there is a natural impulse to withdraw, focus on our own personal lives and relationships, and hope for the best, I encourage you to stay engaged.\u00a0You are fully within your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":120170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-internal-medicine","author_override-mark-rupp-md"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dear Department of Internal Medicine colleagues: These are trying times \u2013 the headlines are truly alarming: Government shutdown, mass furloughs and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Department of Internal Medicine colleagues: These are trying times \u2013 the headlines are truly alarming: Government shutdown, mass furloughs and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-07T22:42:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-07T22:42:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Maria Ball\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Maria Ball\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Maria Ball\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/c3aaff5952b611b08108c1112db5f5a4\"},\"headline\":\"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-07T22:42:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-07T22:42:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/\"},\"wordCount\":278,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/\",\"name\":\"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-07T22:42:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-07T22:42:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Dear Department of Internal Medicine colleagues: These are trying times \u2013 the headlines are truly alarming: Government shutdown, mass furloughs and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg\",\"width\":1680,\"height\":1120,\"caption\":\"Mark Rupp, MD\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/unmc\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/c3aaff5952b611b08108c1112db5f5a4\",\"name\":\"Maria Ball\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d1f491a404d6854880943e5c3cd9ca25\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine","description":"Dear Department of Internal Medicine colleagues: These are trying times \u2013 the headlines are truly alarming: Government shutdown, mass furloughs and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine","og_description":"Dear Department of Internal Medicine colleagues: These are trying times \u2013 the headlines are truly alarming: Government shutdown, mass furloughs and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2025-10-07T22:42:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-07T22:42:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1680,"height":1120,"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Maria Ball","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Maria Ball","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/"},"author":{"name":"Maria Ball","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/c3aaff5952b611b08108c1112db5f5a4"},"headline":"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine","datePublished":"2025-10-07T22:42:46+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-07T22:42:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/"},"wordCount":278,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/","name":"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-10-07T22:42:46+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-07T22:42:47+00:00","description":"Dear Department of Internal Medicine colleagues: These are trying times \u2013 the headlines are truly alarming: Government shutdown, mass furloughs and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mark-Rupp-Infectious-Disease-2014-2.jpeg","width":1680,"height":1120,"caption":"Mark Rupp, MD"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/10\/07\/message-from-the-interim-chair-of-the-department-of-internal-medicine-5\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Message from the Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/c3aaff5952b611b08108c1112db5f5a4","name":"Maria Ball","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d1f491a404d6854880943e5c3cd9ca25\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126473"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126476,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126473\/revisions\/126476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}