News & Events
University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine
• Each May, the hooding ceremony marks the completion of four years of medical education for students at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med), and institutions across the country. As they cross the threshold to becoming physicians, graduating medical students take an oath and join generations of doctors who have recited these words upon their graduation.
• For one moment each year, on the third of Friday in March, hundreds of fourth-year medical students collectively hold their breaths across the United States. The clock strikes 9 a.m, they tear open their match results, and the celebration begins.
• The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine ranked in the top 100 schools based on research funding received by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2021. In addition, the departments of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Microbiology all ranked in the top 100 of their respective fields.
• Congratulations to The Dagda lab for its recently published article in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease showing how a nootropic compound can cure rats with Parkinson's disease.
• Thomas R. Graf, M.D., FAAFP, a founding member of the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations and former senior vice president of Ascension Medical Group, is the new senior associate dean for clinical affairs at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine.
• Northern Nevadans who are uninsured, underinsured or without a social security number can receive free medical care at upcoming University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) Student Outreach Clinics, December 2021 through March 2022, at its new clinical location on Moana Lane in Reno.Rural Outreach Clinics will also be offered in Yerington, Lovelock, and Silver Springs, Nevada. UNR Med offers the free clinics in a continuing effort to assist the region's medically uninsured with needed health care services.
• Dean’s Reflections: Gratitude is good for you
• UNR Med Acting Dean, Melissa Piasecki, M.D., delivers a video message that highlights the School of Medicine achievements, innovations and faculty accomplishments over the past year and a look ahead, which includes a national search for a new dean. She introduces faculty, staff and learners who are among the many people at UNR Med advancing the school’s mission of improving the health and well-being of all Nevadans and their communities through excellence in medical education, research, diversity, equity and inclusion, and clinical care through UNR Med’s affiliation with Renown Health. Additionally, the School of Medicine’s COVID-19 state and community response and outreach are featured.
• Approximately 40 northern Nevada high school girls were equipped last weekend with power tools, pins, clamps and rods that enabled them to saw through artificial bone during mock surgery sessions while learning the basics of orthopedic surgery and engineering concepts at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med).
• Nevada continues to face a physician shortage ranking No. 45 in the United States for active physicians per 100,000 population and No. 48 for primary care physicians per 100,000 population according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) 2019 Nevada Physician Workforce Profile.
• Caroline Cobine Ph.D., assistant professor, department of physiology and cell biology, and a team of researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) were recently awarded a five-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore the mechanisms controlling motility in the lower esophageal sphincter (LES).
• Northern Nevadans who are uninsured, underinsured or without a social security number can receive free medical care at upcoming University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) Student Outreach Clinics at a new clinical location on Moana Lane in Reno.Two rural Outreach Clinics will be offered in Lovelock and Silver Springs, Nevada in November and December. UNR Med offers the free clinics in a continuing effort to assist the region's medically uninsured with needed health care services.
• The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) has named Kristina Deeter, M.D., MBA, FAAP, as vice chair of Pediatrics at UNR Med and associate physician-in-chief of Renown Children's Hospital.
• University of Nevada, Reno President Brian Sandoval announced that Melissa Piasecki, M.D., a longtime member of the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) senior leadership team and professor of psychiatry, was recruited to the role of acting dean at UNR Med. With this appointment, she will also serve as the Chief Academic Officer for Renown Health under the recently-formalized affiliation agreement between UNR Med and Renown, effective September 1, 2021. As acting dean, Piasecki will provide leadership continuity following the retirement of Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., who served as dean for 10 years before stepping down on August 31.
• Dean’s Reflections: Gratitude
• Northern Nevadans who are uninsured, underinsured or without a social security number can receive free medical care at upcoming University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) Student Outreach Clinics and Rural Outreach Clinics, in Lovelock and Yerington, Nevada. UNR Med offers the free clinics in a continuing effort to assist the region's medically uninsured with needed health care services.
• The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) welcomed 70 new first-year medical students today with a white coat ceremony at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts in Reno, during which students received their first white coats to mark the beginning of their educational journeys toward becoming physicians.
• Kerac Falk, M.D., FACOG, board-certified obstetrician gynecologist and fellowship-trained subspecialist in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery has joined University Health and the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med), bolstering urogynecology services in northern Nevada.
• The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) has named Tami Brancamp, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, as interim chair for the department of speech pathology and audiology. Dr. Brancamp served as assistant professor of speech pathology and audiology from 2008-15, and was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure in 2015.
• The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) hosted a completion ceremony today for the 23 graduates of the Physician Assistant (PA) Studies Program. Northern Nevada’s newest PA’s earned the Degree of Master of Physician Assistant Studies after completing the 25-month long full-time master's degree program.
• The rural town of Winnemucca, Nevada is located 165 miles northeast of Reno, nestled next to the Humboldt River. Known as Nevada's "friendliest town," Winnemucca's primary employers include the mines and the school district. You can't go far without noticing the area's Basque influence or the beauty of the cowboy lifestyle. The main road is full of quaint shops and family-run businesses; it has that quintessential small town charm, where everyone knows everybody else, and they genuinely care about their community and its residents.
• Dean’s Reflections: Reaching the end of the beginning
• Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., has announced his plans to step down as Dean of the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) and Vice President of Health Sciences following a decade at the helm. Schwenk's final day as dean and vice president will be Aug. 31, 2021.
• Leaders from Renown Health, the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board of Regents, University of Nevada, Reno and UNR Med converged for an affiliation agreement certificate signing event.
• Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Nevada's Medicaid health plan has committed $75,000 to fund a new University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) initiative called See It To Be It. This initiative will connect aspiring physicians from populations that are underrepresented in medicine and from medically underserved communities with medical students and physicians from similar backgrounds. By supporting pre-med students as they navigate the medical school admissions process, the program will support UNR Med and Anthem's shared commitment to preparing a diverse workforce of physicians. In turn, a more diverse medical workforce will be positioned to deliver more equitable health care services to multicultural and socioeconomically diverse populations, as well as to medically underserved communities.
