New undergraduate college program puts UNO undergrads on affirmative action path to UNMC College of Medicine

Minority undergraduate students at UNO are being fast-tracked to UNMC College of Medicine,
but it's not an 'affirmative action program' according to UNO and UNMC officials.

The Urban Health Opportunities Program provides tuition, mentoring, and other benefits to undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who want to be doctors in Omaha, especially in the underserved northeast and southeast areas of Omaha.

Undergrads enrolled in the Urban Health Opportunities Program at UNO
are mentored and fast-tracked into UNMC College of Medicine as a way
to avoid the label of being part of an 'affirmative action program'

Those who satisfy program requirements will get into medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The program is a way to increase diversity among doctors in the region.

While program officials say this isn’t affirmative action, it is nonetheless an effort to introduce more minorities into the medical field, especially those who can speak foreign languages and who have a passion for working in low-income communities.

This is about improving access to health care for many in the community and not about meeting quotas, said Dr. Jeff Hill, associate dean of admissions and student affairs at the UNMC College of Medicine.

Hill said minorities make up only about 10 percent of the first-year class in the College of Medicine this semester. Currently 13 undergraduate students representing all four classes are taking part in the program, which began this year. Three freshmen will join the program each year.

Nebraska Medical Center again tops list of the state's top hospitals, according to U.S. News & World Reports

The Nebraska Medical Center again tops the state's top hospitals, according to U.S. News & World Reports

The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) at Omaha has again been named the top-ranked hospital in the state by the U.S. News & World Report survey.

UNMC also received high ratings in eight medical specialties:

• cancer
• gastroenterology and GI surgery
• geriatrics
• gynecology
• nephrology
• neurology and neurosurgery 
• pulmonology
• urology

“To again be named the best hospital in the state is a testament to the people who work for this organization and their continued dedication and passion,” said Dr. Dan DeBehenke, of Nebraska Medicine, in a press release. 

UNMC pathologist Thomas Williams named Nebraska’s top public health official

Pathologist Dr. Thomas Williams

A local Omaha pathologist has been chosen to serve as Nebraska’s next top public health official.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts announced the appointment of Dr. Thomas L. Williams as the state’s next chief medical officer and director of the state’s Division of Public Health. The appointment comes more than a year after the resignation of Dr. Joseph Acierno.

A blue ribbon panel comprising of the Governor’s Office and Courtney Phillips, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, interviewed nearly two dozen candidates for the job.

“Williams stood out ... because of his wide-ranging experience and heart for public service,” Gov. Ricketts said.

Williams currently directs laboratory medicine and is the chairman of the pathology department at Methodist Hospital in Omaha. He also teaches pathology as a professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) College of Medicine.