Jump to content

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Coordinates: 41°15′21.71″N 95°58′32.81″W / 41.2560306°N 95.9757806°W / 41.2560306; -95.9757806
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Omaha Medical College)

University of Nebraska
Medical Center
TypePublic academic health science center
Established1869 (charted in 1881)
Parent institution
University of Nebraska System
Academic affiliations
Space-grant
Endowment$1.024 billion budget, 2024-25, 16.6% state supported[1]
ChancellorH. Dele Davies (interim)
PresidentJeffrey P. Gold
Vice-ChancellorJane Meza (interim)
Administrative staff
5,470 FTE (2024)
Students4,703 (2024)
Location
Omaha
,
Nebraska
,
United States
ColorsRed and white[2]
   
MascotLabs[3]
Websitewww.unmc.edu

The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) is a public academic health science center in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1869 and chartered as a private medical college in 1881, UNMC became part of the University of Nebraska System in 1902.[4] Rapidly expanding in the early 20th century, the university founded a hospital, dental college, pharmacy college, college of nursing, and college of medicine. It later added colleges of public health and allied health professions. One of Omaha's top employers,[5] UNMC had an annual budget of $1.024 billion for 2024 to 2025 and an economic impact of $5.9 billion.[6]

History

[edit]
The original Omaha Medical College building at 12th & Pacific in 1900

A private medical college was founded in Omaha by the state legislature in 1869 and chartered in 1881 as the Omaha Medical College.[4] It became part of the University of Nebraska system in 1902. A university hospital opened in 1917. In 1968, the University of Nebraska united its health sciences, forming the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus. In 1991, a technology transfer office was created, known as UNeMed. In 1997, the UNMC hospital merged with the nearby Bishop Clarkson Hospital to become what was later renamed Nebraska Medicine.[7]

Ebola epidemic response

[edit]

During the 2014 Ebola epidemic, the federal government tapped Nebraska as one of three units prepared to accept highly infectious patients in the United States. Today, UNMC/Nebraska Medicine has the largest operational biocontainment unit in the nation.[8]

UNMC's academic, local, state, and federal partnerships have expanded with the initiation of the National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC).[9][10] the Special Pathogens Research Network (SPRN)[11] and the National Training, Simulation & Quarantine Center.[12] These organizations and additional alliances are housed under the Global Center for Health Security.[13]

In 2016, UNMC was awarded a $19.8 million grant from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.[12] The four-year federal grant — which has renewable options for an additional 21 years — enables UNMC to teach federal health care personnel procedures in treating highly infectious diseases.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center created the Global Center for Health Security in 2017. The goal of the creation of the center is to transform and centralize "infectious disease response and biodefense research." Among the reasons behind the move were concerns about outbreaks of viruses, infectious diseases, and an environment where a biological terrorist attack is a possibility.[14]

In 2016, a UNMC team of researchers was awarded a five-year research grant from the National Institutes of Health totaling nearly $20 million, through the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program and the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Studies.[15] The grant will focus on developing early career researchers into independent scientists and increasing the infrastructure and other resources needed to support clinical/translational research (CTR) around the region. The grant will create the Great Plains IDeA-CTR Network, a collaboration involving nine institutions in four states: Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Kansas[16]

SARS-CoV-2 epidemic response

[edit]

In 2020, UNMC and Nebraska Medicine were enlisted to support a federal operation that evacuated 57 Americans from Wuhan, China, during an epidemic of novel coronavirus, SARS CoV-2. The group was placed in quarantine at Camp Ashland, a Nebraska National Guard facility near Omaha.[17] Thirteen Americans were repatriated to University of Nebraska Medical Center on February 17, from the Diamond Princess off the coast of Japan. Ten had tested positive, and three others had been exposed.[18] Three days later, eleven of these people tested positive. UNMC scientists, working with evidence gathered in the National Quarantine Center, in the new $119 million Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center on UNMC's Omaha campus, found the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads through airborne transmission.[19][20] UNMC led the first clinical trial in the U.S. on the use of remdesivir to treat patients hospitalized with COVID-19.[21] UNMC developed a series of guides to help meatpacking facilities, child development centers, court systems, K-12 education and higher education minimize the risk of COVID-19 and reduce disruptions to business operations.[22] UNMC scientists developed a safe and effective method to decontaminate N95 respirators using ultraviolet light.[18] The process, shared with hospital systems across the U.S., allowed multiple reuse of N95s when personal protective equipment was in short supply.[23]

Academics and rankings

[edit]

In 2024, UNMC's bachelor's in nursing program was ranked 19th of 656 nursing programs by U.S. News & World Report.[24] UNMC was also ranked as a Tier 1 institution for primary care training.[25] Other programs that also received a national ranking include graduates practicing in rural health care (9th of 168); research (Tier 2); the College of Pharmacy (19th of 141); the College of Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice program (59th of 389); the College of Public Health (46th of 213), and the College of Allied Health Professions' physical therapy program (33 of 245) and physician assistant program (16 of 211).

UNMC was named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Top Producing Institution for the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 academic years by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.[26]

The Durham Research Towers and the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center opened in June 2017.[27] External funding for research, education and public service totaled $250.5 million in fiscal year 2022-23. Federal research grants totaled $173.4 million in fiscal year 2022-23.[6]

The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, a $370 million project, the largest project ever at the University of Nebraska, opened in 2017.[28] The Buffett Cancer Center is a joint project with UNMC's primary clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine.[29] and includes three areas dedicated to cancer: the Suzanne and Walter Scott Research Tower, the C.L. Werner Cancer Hospital, and a multidisciplinary outpatient treatment clinic. It is one of 69 centers designated by the National Cancer Institute.[30]

Colleges and degree-granting institutes:

  • College of Medicine
  • College of Dentistry – The dental college is located in Lincoln, Nebraska, on the East Campus of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
  • College of Nursing
  • College of Pharmacy
  • College of Public Health
  • College of Allied Health Professions
  • Graduate studies program through the University of Nebraska Graduate College
  • Eppley Institute for Cancer Research and Allied Diseases
  • Munroe-Meyer Institute for Developmental Disabilities

Campus growth

[edit]

Projects completed in recent years include:[31]

  • Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center. The $102 million facility houses UNMC's iEXCEL initiative, which includes advanced simulation clinical settings and virtual immersive reality technology.[32]
  • Munroe-Meyer Institute for Developmental Disabilities moved from UNMC's main campus to a building near 69th and Pine Streets after an $86 million renovation.[33]
  • Wigton Heritage Centeran, an $8 million, 10,000-square-foot welcome center that also memorializes UNMC's history, and the associated $18 million renovation of Wittson Hall.[34][35]
  • College of Nursing – Lincoln Division. The $41.5 million facility houses the UNMC College of Nursing's Lincoln Division and University of Nebraska-Lincoln University Health Center in a combined structure of about 100,000 square feet.[36]
  • The UNMC Center for Drug Discovery and Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences in 2016. The previous College of Pharmacy building was renamed the Joseph D. & Millie E. Williams Science Hall.[37]
  • The Health Science Education Complex at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2015.[38] The facility enabled UNMC to expand allied health programs for physician assistants, physical therapists, clinical laboratory scientists, radiographers and diagnostic medical sonographers. The building also allowed the UNMC College of Nursing to expand its master's programs for nurse practitioners and its bachelor's in nursing program on the Kearney campus.
  • The Center for Nursing Science in 2010[35] The 43,000-square-foot (4,000 m2) building has enabled the College of Nursing to enroll more nursing students, and prepare more nurse faculty.
  • The Stanley M. Truhlsen Eye Institute, which opened in June 2013.[39][40] The institute is the home of the UNMC Department of Ophthalmology.
  • The Harold M. and Beverly Maurer Center for Public Health opened in 2011 to provide a home to the College of Public Health, added in 2007 to address a variety of issues facing Nebraska, including health promotion and disease prevention, environmental health and safety, health care delivery, and biosecurity and biopreparedness[35]
  • The J. Paul and Eleanor McIntosh College of Nursing in 2010, UNMC opened its newest nursing division and building in Norfolk, Nebraska, thanks to an $11.9 million capital campaign a partnership between Northeast Community College in Norfolk and the UNMC College of Nursing[41]
  • The Home Instead Center for Successful Aging in 2019[42] This two-level center increased clinical and translational research by establishing an appropriate environment for conducting clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease and other geriatric-specific disorders.
  • The Durham Research Center II in 2009, the $76.5 million twin to the original Durham Research Center tower, both of which were almost exclusively funded with private sources[43]
  • The Weigel Williamson Center for Visual Rehabilitation in 2008, the $1.2 million center provides visual rehabilitation for adults and children with low vision.[44]
  • A renovated Bennett Hall in 2008, which moved all allied health professions education under one roof.[45] The former School of Allied Health Professions became a college in 2015.

Notable alumni

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Fast Facts | University of Nebraska Medical Center".
  2. ^ "UNMC Brand Wise | Color Palette".
  3. ^ "University of Nebraska Medical Center unveils new mascot". WOWT. April 27, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Praeger (2010). American Universities and Colleges (19th ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 769. ISBN 978-0-313-36608-6.
  5. ^ "Largest Employers in Omaha". Omaha World Herald. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Fast Facts". University of Nebraska Medical Center. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
  7. ^ "Home - Nebraska Medicine Omaha, NE". nebraskamed.com.
  8. ^ "UNMC's Global Center for Health Security". Nebraska Radio Network. June 7, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  9. ^ "Ebola Virus Declared a Global Health Emergency | Everyday Health".
  10. ^ "Home".
  11. ^ "Research Network".
  12. ^ a b Morton, Joseph. "UNMC awarded $19.8 million to develop national training center for fighting Ebola, other infectious diseases". Omaha World-Herald.
  13. ^ Julie Anderson. "UNMC, Nebraska Medicine team training Ugandan health-care workers screening for Ebola". Omaha.com.
  14. ^ Galford, Chris (June 19, 2017). "University of Nebraska reorganizes public health efforts to face future disease threats under central umbrella". Homeland Preparedness News. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  15. ^ "$20 million research grant is largest ever for UNMC | UNMC". October 24, 2016.
  16. ^ "GP IDeA-CTR – the Great Plains IDeA-CTR is a collaborative effort between nine regional institutions. The IDeA-CTR strives to provide training, education and mentorship; tools and resources; and funding to regional researchers".
  17. ^ KETV Staff Report (February 6, 2020). "Officials speak on bringing rescued Americans to Nebraska for quarantine amid coronavirus spread". KETV.
  18. ^ a b Anderson, Julie; Ruggles, Rick (February 17, 2020). "13 people, some of whom have tested positive for coronavirus, quarantined at Nebraska Med Center". Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on February 21, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  19. ^ Jaimie Etkin (July 22, 2020). "There's now proof these two things you do constantly spread covid". MSN.
  20. ^ Santarpia, Joshua L.; Rivera, Danielle N.; Herrera, Vicki L.; Morwitzer, M. Jane; Creager, Hannah M.; Santarpia, George W.; Crown, Kevin K.; Brett-Major, David M.; Schnaubelt, Elizabeth R.; Broadhurst, M. Jana; Lawler, James V. (July 29, 2020). "Aerosol and surface contamination of SARS-CoV-2 observed in quarantine and isolation care". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 12732. Bibcode:2020NatSR..1012732S. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-69286-3. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7391640. PMID 32728118.
  21. ^ NIH staff Report (February 25, 2020). "NIH clinical trial of remdesivir to treat COVID-19 begins". NIH.
  22. ^ Duffy, Erin (April 30, 2020). "UNMC experts write playbook to help meatpackers prevent spread of coronavirus". omaha.com.
  23. ^ Berg, Sara (April 2, 2020). "COVID-19: Tackling the N95 shortage with novel decontamination". AMA.
  24. ^ "Best Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Programs". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023.
  25. ^ "University of Nebraska Medical Center - Best Medical Schools". US News. 2024. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  26. ^ The Chronicle List (February 9, 2020). "Top Producers of Fulbright U.S. Scholars and Students, 2019-20". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  27. ^ "Home - Cancer Center — University of Nebraska Medical Center". unmc.edu.
  28. ^ Dunker, Chris. "Buffett Cancer Center hopes to create new culture of patient treatment". JournalStar.com.
  29. ^ "Home — Nebraska Medicine Omaha, NE". nebraskamed.com.
  30. ^ "$323 million Buffett Cancer Center designed to spur collaboration between doctors, researchers". Omaha World Herald. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  31. ^ https://www.unmc.edu/publicrelations/media/growth.html/>
  32. ^ Center, the University of Nebraska Medical. "UNMC boldly goes where no generation has gone before in health care education". Omaha.com.
  33. ^ Henry J. Cordes. "UNMC launches $86 million renovation for "unparalleled" center for those with disabilities". Omaha.com.
  34. ^ Julie Anderson World-Herald staff. "UNMC breaks ground on $26 million renovation project". Omaha.com.
  35. ^ a b c Rick Ruggles. "$18 million renovation of UNMC's Wittson Hall aims to make building "a Class A-type facility" again". Omaha.com.
  36. ^ Service, Rick Ruggles BH News. "$44M collaboration gets UNL health, education center". Kearney Hub.
  37. ^ Julie Anderson. "With new College of Pharmacy home, UNMC aims to be leader in battling "superbugs", other infectious diseases". Omaha.com.
  38. ^ U. N. K.Communications. "New artwork to grace UNK's Health Science atrium". Kearney Hub.
  39. ^ Omaha World-Herald. December 21, 2009. pp. 1–2. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  40. ^ "UNMC page". unmc.edu.
  41. ^ "UNMC continues to address nursing shortage".
  42. ^ Star, MARK ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal. "Omaha aging center to focus on 'whole person wellness'". JournalStar.com.
  43. ^ "UNMC breaks ground on second research tower | UNMC". August 9, 2006.
  44. ^ "UNMC opens low vision center today | UNMC". April 15, 2008.
  45. ^ "Campus invited to Bennett Hall open house today | UNMC". September 26, 2008.
[edit]

41°15′21.71″N 95°58′32.81″W / 41.2560306°N 95.9757806°W / 41.2560306; -95.9757806

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_of_Nebraska_Medical_Center&oldid=1254549970"