{"id":130949,"date":"2026-04-14T01:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=130949"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:17:19","slug":"annual-faculty-awards-dalton-nelsen-md","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/04\/14\/annual-faculty-awards-dalton-nelsen-md\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual faculty awards: Dalton Nelsen, MD"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n<p>Dalton Nelsen, MD, will be the recipient of the Spirit of Community Service Award during the UNMC Faculty Senate annual meeting on April 15. The award recognizes faculty members who have used expertise, resources, talent and time outside their UNMC duties to provide community service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Name:<\/strong> Dalton Nelsen, MD<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Titles with UNMC:<\/strong> Assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Emergency Medicine; CEO of Health Equity in Action League (HEAL) Omaha<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Joined UNMC:<\/strong> Started medical school at UNMC in 2012, emergency medicine residency in 2016, emergency ultrasound fellowship in 2019, faculty since then.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hometown:<\/strong> Callaway<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How did you start in your community service activities?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I initially volunteered for the first time with Health Equity in Action League (HEAL) Omaha in August 2023. Due to some work obligations and health issues, I did not again volunteer until August 2024. Shortly after volunteering a few times in August, I was asked to be the volunteer CEO of the organization and officially took over that role in September 2024. Prior to this current official role, I have been involved in community service for most of my adult life and even before then through different organizations in high school and college, as well as medical school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are the greatest rewards of teaching?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The greatest reward of teaching is seeing learners going on to excel in their own career paths. At UNMC, I have been fortunate enough to teach and mentor learners of all different levels in many different capacities. Knowing I played a role of some sort in their educational journey brings me the greatest joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Describe a moment in your career when you realized you had picked the right profession.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is hard for me to pick an exact moment in my career when I realized I chose the right profession. It is a culmination of several moments and experiences through not only my time as a resident physician but also the last seven years as an attending physician. Early in my career, I probably would have said that the exact moment was a great save or a successful resuscitation. Now, I would say it is the moments I get to advocate for my patients who can&#8217;t advocate for themselves. It&#8217;s the moments I have the privilege to take care of people on the worst day of their lives, providing compassionate and human-centered care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are the biggest challenges you face as a teacher?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the biggest challenges of teaching is meeting the needs of every learner. Students have different learning styles, backgrounds, perspectives, life experiences and skill levels. Tailoring educational material to each individual learner can be difficult but essential. Particularly in the fast-paced, often chaotic emergency department, time can be a major challenge as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How do you know when you\u2019ve been successful as a teacher?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The quick and easy answer is when you are formally recognized by learners for your work as an educator through awards and recognition. This is exactly how I used to measure my success as an educator early in my career. After receiving several educational awards and recognitions early on, this metric of success ultimately led to disappointment when I was not recognized, often making me feel like a failure. I now measure my success as an educator differently. I measure it in the growth of my learner, whether academically or personally. I measure it in how comfortable my learners are to approach me to ask questions and share ideas, knowing I have gained their trust. I measure my success by the future success of my learners. True success is knowing I had a positive impact on their educational journey.<\/p>\n<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"\/secure-location.php\" style=\"display: none;\" title=\"X EAZSR MMkl nV\"><!-- X EAZSR MMkl nV --><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Nelsen is an assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Emergency Medicine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":108080,"comment_status":"open","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":"34191,51649,54679,39351,61104,22430","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-education","topic-inside-unmc","department-college-of-medicine","department-emergency-medicine","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines","author_override-unmc-strategic-communications"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This 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