Stay Connected
Facebook	Linkedin	Twitter	YouTube

Public Relations  >  News Center  >  Quick Facts  >  School of Medicine

• Overview
• Students
• Faculty/Physicians
• School of Medicine Points of Pride
• Creighton Medical Associates Highlights
• Research
• Centers of Excellence

In the Jesuit, Catholic tradition of Creighton University, the mission of the School of Medicine is to improve the human condition through excellence in educating students, physicians and the public; advancing knowledge; and providing comprehensive patient care.

The school, established in 1892, boasts a full-time faculty of 265 with a student enrollment at about 525.

As an academic medical center, Creighton is committed to providing excellent medical care. It also is dedicated to preparing tomorrow's health professionals for the medical challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in patient care, teaching and research.

Creighton University has a national reputation for quality patient care, and a large number of faculty and research programs have internationally known.

The Hixson-Lied Science Building and Criss Health Science Buildings are the center of a major initiative to provide Creighton undergraduates and health professionals with science facilities that encourage discovery, teaching, research, leadership and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Creighton University School of Medicine and St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz., announced an academic affiliation in June 2009 that creates a Creighton medical school presence in Phoenix. The affiliation expands educational opportunities available to Creighton medical students while allowing the University’s School of Medicine to recruit more students, giving them access to a Catholic–based medical education, beginning with the 2010 first-year class. Students will be exposed to additional complimentary areas of clinical excellence and collaborative research opportunities.

• Last year there were 5,879 first-year applicants to the School of Medicine for 152 first-year seats.
• About nine percent of Creighton’s 2010-11 medical students are minorities.
• Creighton matched 97 percent of its 2010 graduating medical students with their specialties of choice.
• Creighton medical students founded and run the Magis Clinic, a free health care clinic for uninsured and underinsured people that is staffed by medical students as well as physician volunteers.
• Creighton medical graduates are offered residency training at excellent medical centers from coast to coast. In addition to Creighton University Medical Center, such prestigious institutions as Mayo Clinic, Duke University, Yale University and Stanford University select Creighton graduates, for reasons that include Creighton’s comprehensive clinical training, rigorous academics, excellent student performance, outstanding student support and mentoring systems and Creighton University’s national reputation.
• Creighton consistently ranks above the national average in graduate satisfaction. In a recent survey, nearly 100 percent of 2009 graduates said they were pleased with the quality of their medical education.

• Rowen K. Zetterman, M. D., serves as dean of the School of Medicine.
• Creighton University offers medical students a diverse medical community. Students train with hundreds of the region’s most accomplished health professionals.
• Creighton faculty pride themselves on being teachers first and foremost. The accrediting authority for U. S. and Canadian doctor of medicine programs has described Creighton faculty as “enthusiastic about teaching…the extraordinary availability of the faculty and administrative staff strongly supports the learning environment.”
• Creighton University physicians are recognized experts in minimally invasive general surgery, esophageal and digestive disorder surgery, cardiac care, surgical oncology, neurosurgical procedures, peritoneal neoplastic diseases, hereditary cancer, osteoporosis and trauma.

• Creighton University was the first Catholic higher education institution to receive the prestigious Community Service Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges for its work in the Magis Clinic. This free clinic, founded and run by Creighton medical students, with the assistance of physician volunteers, provides health care for the uninsured and underinsured.
• Creighton University School of Medicine was named a national Center of Excellence for Physician Information for the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2007. These centers serve as national models for educating future physicians about drug abuse and addiction so they can better identify, prevent and treat patients at risk.
• The School of Medicine was selected in 2006 to participate in an Innovative Strategies for Transforming the Education of Physicians (ISTEP) project sponsored by the American Medical Association (AMA). ISTEP is a unique medical education research collaborative that brings together individuals and institutions from across the continuum of physician learning. Creighton is one of 16 research teams, representing 27 medical schools, which participate in the AMA research.
• There are ten endowed chairs in the School:
  • The Peekie Nash Carpenter Endowed Chair in Medicine, held by Devendra Agrawal, Ph.D.
  • The Dr. Harry E. Stuckenhoff Endowed Chair in Surgery, held by Robert J. Fitzgibbons, Jr., M.D.
  • The Dr. Roland L. Kleeberger Endowed Chair, Vacant
  • The Tenet Healthcare Endowed Chair in Healthcare Efficacy, Vacant
  • The Dr. Harold J. Bonnstetter Endowed Chair in Preventive Medicine, held by Brian Loggie, M.D.
  • The Dr. Arnold W. Lempka Endowed Chair in Surgery, held by Jeffrey Sugimoto, M.D.
  • The Charles F. and Mary C. Heider Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, held by Henry T. Lynch, M.D.
  • The Sheila and Dr. James J. Shea Family Endowed Chair in Anesthesiology, held by James L. Manion, M.D.
  • The Dr. Paul S. Mahoney Endowed Chair in Radiology and Medical Imaging, Vacant
  • The August H. Bergman, M. D., Endowed Chair in Cardiology, held by Aryan N. Mooss, M. D.

• Creighton Medical Associates (CMA) is a multispecialty faculty group supporting the clinical and academic missions of Creighton University School of Medicine. Organized in 1994, CMA has 200 physicians and midlevel providers representing 36 specialties. As a division of the School of Medicine, CMA serves more than 100,000 patients annually at the Creighton University Medical Center, community-based clinics in the Omaha metropolitan area, and rural outreach clinics in Iowa and Nebraska.
• An expanded Old Market Clinic and continued growth of services at the Dundee Clinic reflect Creighton Medical Associates’ commitment to serve Omaha’s downtown and midtown residents and businesses. The Old Market Clinic is CMA’s busiest clinic.
• CMA physicians are active in medical research and education. Their experiences in these arenas make them uniquely qualified to provide patients with the best and latest advancements in disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
• The Cardiac Center of Creighton University, founded in 1961, employs more than 230 full- and part-time employees, including 17 cardiologists and 12 physician fellows. The 60,000-square-foot center is the only free-standing facility of its kind in Omaha dedicated solely to cardiovascular care, teaching and research. The center recently opened a new electrophysiology lab, which includes a state-of-the-art, cardiovascular-imaging system that provides advanced imaging with lower radiation doses for patients.
  
  In addition to the main facility at 3006 N. 30 St. in Omaha, The Cardiac Center serves 11 outreach clinics in Omaha, rural Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Creighton heart surgeons earned a top rating in Consumer Reports September 2011 issue. Creighton was one of only three Nebraska physician groups to receive a three-star rating.
• The Department of Surgery includes nine divisions and is home to many skilled surgeons who are recognized for their expertise in such areas as minimally invasive general surgery techniques, esophageal and digestive system procedures, trauma and critical care, neurosurgical techniques such as skull-base surgery and minimally invasive spine surgery, cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, peritoneal neoplasm surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, urological surgery, and abdominal-wall reconstruction.
• Creighton’s Clinical Diabetes Program is certified by the American Diabetes Association for its diabetes education services. Located at Creighton Medical Associates’ Dundee Clinic, the program offers one-stop care for diabetes prevention, diagnosis, treatment, education, and nutritional and drug counseling.
• Creighton’s world-renowned Osteoporosis Research Center is a long-established clinical leader in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of osteoporosis in women and men.

• Creighton has a long and rich history of groundbreaking research that makes a difference in people’s lives. Research is essential to learning about the underlying mechanisms of disease and new ways to prevent and treat disease.
• In fiscal year 2010-2011, Creighton medical researchers attracted more than $25.2 million in external grant funding.
• Researchers in the School of Medicine departments of biomedical sciences, medical microbiology and immunology, and pharmacology are making discoveries in the areas of atherosclerosis, bacterial resistance, cancer, hearing restoration, brain injury and conditions that affect bone growth and bone loss. They also are increasing our knowledge of potential therapeutic targets to facilitate drug discovery.
• Research grants have supplied Creighton University with the resources for the creation and expansion of state-of-the art core facilities in confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, genomics, morphology and proteomics. These and other shared facilities provide University biomedical researchers opportunities for inter-disciplinary collaboration, interaction, and development of team research projects utilizing state-of-the-art technology and equipment. The facilities are designed to allow the free flow of information and collaborative work environments.
• The School of Medicine is an international leader in research regarding major debilitating diseases such as hereditary cancer and osteoporosis. The school’s strategic plan includes developing comparable leading programs in infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, nutrition and metabolism, and neuroscience. An exciting new generation of research projects is underway.
• A groundbeaking study conducted at Creighton University suggests that most people do not get enough vitamin D, a fact that may put them at significant risk for developing cancer. The research suggests that boosting your vitamin D3 supplement intake, in conjunction with adequate calcium consumption, can significantly reduce one’s risk of breast and other cancers.

• The Cancer Center is an innovator in three major areas of cancer: peritoneal neoplastic diseases; skin cancer, including melanoma; and breast cancer with same-day diagnostic breast care services. Additionally, the Cancer Center treats a variety of solid organ tumors, such as colon, pancreas and appendix.
• The Osteoporosis Research Center has been recognized for decades as one of the top bone research and clinical treatment centers in the world. The center has played a pivotal role in the identification of osteoporosis as a serious health threat, particularly to postmenopausal women, and in the development of current standards for osteoporosis screening, diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
• The Center for Research in Anti-Infectives and Biotechnology looks at the many aspects of antimicrobial chemotherapy, ranging from drug discovery to the molecular mechanisms of antibacterial resistance among bacteria, antibacterial resistance in the clinical laboratory, and new drugs and drug combinations to treat resistant bacteria.
• The Hereditary Cancer Center was formerly established in 1984, although Creighton’s groundbreaking research in this area began in the 1960s. The center is devoted to cancer prevention resulting from hereditary cancer syndromes, with particular attention given to surveillance and management programs melded to the natural history of these particular disorders.
  
  Over the years, work at the center has evolved significantly due to advances in molecular genetics. Germ-line mutations have been found in countless cancer-prone families with particular emphasis on hereditary breast-ovarian-cancer syndrome; familial typical multiple mole melanoma (FAMMM) syndrome in association with pancreatic cancer; and hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) syndromes, also referred to as the Lynch Syndrome (named after Henry Lynch, M.D., HCC director). Lynch developed what are now regarded as the cardinal principles of cancer genetics: early age of onset of the disease, specific pattern of multiple primary cancers, and patterns of inheritance in hundreds of extended families worldwide.
• The Center for Digestive Disorders is a convenient point of access to the full range of digestive health care services offered within the hospital.. The center combines inpatient and outpatient programs, state-of-the-art technology, clinical expertise and internationally recognized specialty programs in areas such as esophageal disorders and abdominal wall reconstruction.