Congratulations to members of our division for their achievements and recognitions in the second half of this year! These are just a few of the outstanding accomplishments of our division.
The HIV SCC EMET team were recognized as most active medical student clinic preceptorship in UNMC’s LCE (longitudinal clinic experience) program
Dr. Jasmine Marcelin was honored to receive the IDSA Foundation’s 2025 Diversity Champion Award, at IDWeek 2025
Nichole Regan, APRN and Dr. Emmanuel Nazaire Essam Nkodo were awarded second place for their project “Implementation of Comprehensive Behavioral Health and Substance Use Screening and Referral Services at a Midwest HIV Clinic”, by the Health Administration Research and Best Practices Symposium
Dr. Sias Scherger earned outstanding national recognition this week at the COLT Trial Investigator Meeting, where he was invited to present the UNMC experience
Dr. Kelly Cawcutt was selected by the Society of Critical Care Medicine as one of the recipients of the Presidential Citation Award
Dr. Shawna Sunagawa received the UNMC College of Pharmacy Teacher of the Year award
Dr. Salman Ashraf served as the Chair of the Infection Control Committee for the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine and helped develop the society’s newly released guidance on COVID-19 vaccination for residents and staff in post-acute and long-term care settings.
Led by Dr. Jasmine Marcelin, the ID Division successfully competed for and was awarded the ID STEP grant through IDSA to develop the ID workforce. Faculty involved with developing the proposal included Drs. Mackenzie Keintz, Dan Brailita, Andrea Zimmer, Jenn Davis, Angela Hewlett, Andrea Green-Hines, David Warren, and Jonathan Ryder
Christine Tran, APRN received the Innovation Award at the UNMC APP Week Awards Ceremony
Dr. Kelly Cawcutt was selected as a distinguished speaker at the Remington Winter Course in Infectious Diseases in Copper Mountain, CO in February 2026
Dr. Dan Brailita was appointed Co-Chair of the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies COM Curriculum Integration Taskforce at UNMC
Samantha Jones, MSW received the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine Staff Excellence in Advocacy Award
Dr. Nada Fadul received the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine Debra J Romberger Faculty Excellence in Advocacy Award
Dr. Jasmine Marcelin represented IDSA in Washington, DC at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference
Dr. Josh Havens received the Scholar of the Year award from the UNMC College of Pharmacy
Drs. David Brett-Major, Angela Hewlett, and James Lawler contributed chapters to the new textbook Viral Outbreaks, Biosecurity, and Preparing for Mass Casualty Infectious Diseases Events (Editors: Trish Perl and Daniel Maxwell)
Drs. Cal Albrecht, Emily Dyer, Nicole Kusnik, Shawna Sunagawa and Josh Havens received IDWeek Best Abstract Awards
Jen O’Neill RN received a nursing DAISY Award, nominated by a grateful patient
Dr. Kelly Cawcutt was appointed Vice Chair of the SHEA Spring Mentorship Program Committee
Dr. Josh Havens was honored as a new invention contributor at UNMC
Dr. Jenn Davis was named as one of the top performing reviewers for the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases
Drs. Nico Cortes-Penfield and Angela Hewlett were delegates to the International Consensus Meeting (ICM) in Istanbul with other experts on bone and joint infections from around the world
Dr. Jenn Davis was named as faculty lead on an e-module selected as part of the UNMC E-Learning Awards Program 2025-2026 cohort. Drs. Shawna Sunagawa, Jonathan Ryder, and Nicole Kusnik are also participating
Dr. Angela Hewlett was selected as the Chair of the IDSA Outbreak and Pandemic Preparedness Education Panel
Led by Dr. Anum Abbas and Dr. Carlos A. Gomez, the Transplant Infectious Diseases Research Group had an exceptionally productive year, bringing TEN industry-sponsored, NIH-funded, and investigator-initiated studies to UNMC
The Specialty Care Center Ryan White Part D program was one of 8 programs selected nationally to participate in the HRSA, HAB, & DCHAP “Enhancing HIV Care of Women, Infants, Children and Youth (WICY) Building Capacity through Communities of Practice (CoP)” program focused on Trauma Informed Care and Behavioral Health, utilizing quality improvement interventions (March 2024-March 2025)
Deanna Hansen received recognition for celebrating her 35th anniversary as a UNMC employee
Valentina Orduna was the recipient of the Nebraska Medicine and UNMC Unsung Hero Award
Dr. Mark Rupp served as Interim Chair of the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine
The Specialty Care Center team was 1 of 2 programs selected to present their Community of Practice activities and findings at the DCHAP Stakeholders Webinar in April 2025
Dr. Mark Rupp served on the IDSA taskforce evaluating compensation at academic medical centers
Nikki Regan, APRN was appointed to serve on the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) Rural Care Committee for 2026
Dr. Nada Fadul was appointed HIV Subspeciality Section Co-Chair of the National Medical Association (NMA)
This does not even include the countless publications and presentations by members of this division!
Well done folks, looking forward to the excellence you will bring to 2026!