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"The education of the doctor which goes on after he has his degree is,
after all, the most important part of his education." John Shaw
Billings, M.D. (1838-1913)
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Program Directors
Our
residency program at the University of Nebraska is different than
any other program. A few examples of our innovative programs include
our house officer continuity clinic that provides training in
practice management, a general medicine out-state rotation, an
international rotation in South Africa that is offered to third-year
residents, and our own board review course. Furthermore, we offer a
tremendous benefits package as well. All of the training programs
you visit will tell you they place resident education ahead of
service needs, but at the University of Nebraska we really deliver
-- just ask our house officers. You will not visit another program
where the house officers will actually want to talk to you about
their great outpatient clinics. Come visit us and tour our
Outpatient Care Center, walk through our off-site house officers'
clinic, put your feet up in our residents' lounge, but most
importantly spend plenty of time talking to our house officers and I
think you will see how innovative we are.
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Dr. James O'Dell
Program Director |
Dr.
James R. O'Dell, Larson Professor of Medicine, Chief of the
Section of Rheumatology and Vice Chair for Education in the
Department of Internal Medicine, Dr. O'Dell has served as
director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program more than 20
years.
He earned his medical degree
and completed an Internal Medicine residency at UNMC. He
accomplished a clinical and research fellowship in Rheumatology
at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver,
and is Board certified in both Internal Medicine and
Rheumatology.
Dr. O’Dell is founder and
director of the nationally-recognized Rheumatoid Arthritis
Investigational Network (RAIN), a group of rheumatologists, from
eight states, who conduct investigator-initiated trials seeking
improved treatments for rheumatoid arthritis.
Published extensively, Dr.
O'Dell recently authored “Drug Therapy: Rheumatoid Arthritis”
for the New England Journal of Medicine . His research activity
has centered on the development of large scale, multi-centered,
non-industrial clinical trials that are designed to answer
clinically relevant therapeutic questions. He is currently
principal investigator of a $13 million VA-funded international
study involving the VA, Canadian Health System and RAIN. He is
also co-editor of Arthritis and Rheumatism and is a frequent
presenter at national and international meetings. He has been
recognized many times for teaching excellence. He is active on
American College of Rheumatology (ACR) committees and is
president of the Research and Education Foundation of the ACR.
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Dr. Joel Bessmer
Associate Program Director
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Dr. Joel Bessmer is associate
professor of Internal Medicine/General Medicine at UNMC.
Along with his duties as assistant program director of the
Internal Medicine Residency, he also is Medical Director of
the UNMC Physicians Turner Park Clinic, and is co-program
director of the UNMC Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program.
A native of Plainview, Nebraska,
Dr. Bessmer received his Bachelor's degree in biology from
Kearney State College in 1988. He then attended UNMC where
he received his medical degree in 1993, after which he
completed his internship and residency, followed with a
position as chief resident of internal medicine through
1997.
He was named one of the Best
Doctors in America in 2001, presented the Sir William Osler
Award for Internal Medicine at UNMC in 2000 and was
recognized with Internal Medicine's Top Teacher of the Year
Award in 1999/2000 and 2001/2002.
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Dr. Chad Vokoun
Associate Program Director |
Dr. Vokoun is
a Graduate of UNMC (2000) and completed his residency training
at UNMC in 2004 following a Chief Resident year at the VA in
Omaha. Dr. Vokoun is a native Nebraskan and attended the
University of Nebraska at Kearney where he played football.
His interests
include Hospital Medicine and Consultative Medicine focusing on
resident and student education. Dr. Vokoun has received
numerous teaching awards including the senior medical school
class’ top teaching award the Hirschmann Golden Apple, the top
resident teaching award the Sir William Osler Award, as well as
being one of the departments Top Teachers in his first three
years on staff.
He is active
in the American College of Physicians as well as the Association
of Program Directors in Internal Medicine.
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