Cowan, wife have fallen in love with Nebraska, its people --Continued from page 8. Omaha, so he made a trip west, and he liked what he saw. “I remember flying into Eppley and then going to the Embassy Suites in the Old Market,” he says. “I was amazed how attractive the city was. The fact that it had preserved an older district was something unique.” Then he visited the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) campus. “I was impressed by the commitment to research dating back to 1961, and the focus on cancer. Most large universities don’t develop a focus on cancer. UNMC was also at the forefront of the multidisciplinary approach to cancer care.” Three visits later, Dr. Cowan joined UNMC – with really no idea of the incredible opportunity that awaited him.
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n Omaha, Dr. Cowan became the sixth director of the Eppley Institute, which was founded in 1961. Under his direction, all cancer researchers throughout the campus were united into a single entity. Originally titled the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center, it has evolved into the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. From 2013 until its opening in 2017, Dr. Cowan shepherded the design and building of the $323 million Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, the largest construction project in the University of Nebraska’s history. Pamela Buffett was the facility’s lead donor. She was married to Fred Buffett, Warren Buffett’s first cousin. Fred died of kidney cancer, and Pamela’s gift was in her husband’s honor. Under Dr. Cowan’s leadership, the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center has advanced from a basic laboratory cancer center to one of only 70 cancer centers to earn the National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation, and the only NCIdesignated cancer center in Nebraska. It is also one of 14 founding members of the alliance of leading cancer centers known as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). In his two decades at UNMC, more than 250 faculty members have been recruited to the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, while research funding has increased more than three-fold – from $19 million in 1999 to more than $60 million in 2018. He says the roots for the Omaha center reach back to his days in Bethesda. “I worked in a building just like this,” he says, watching the snow fall outside the floor-to-ceiling windows in his corner office at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. “It was Building 10. It combined a hospital, clinics, and research in the largest building on campus. I could leave the lab and walk down the hall to see patients. The concept
Dr. Cowan with world famous glass artist Dale Chihuly. Chihuly and his team worked closely with UNMC and Nebraska Medicine staff members to create the Chihuly Sanctuary at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. Located on the facility’s fourth floor, the sanctuary offers a great place to relax, reflect, and meditate. we have employed here, of combining clinical facilities, a research tower, and a full hospital, goes literally back to my days at NIH.”
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he Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center was an ambitious dream, and Dr. Cowan is grateful for the part he played in making it come true. “To be able to combine precision medicine with individualized care, and to bring researchers in as partners as we study the human genome, to understand the genetic drivers of each person’s cancer,” he says, smiling. “This is the future of cancer care, here and now.” Dr. Cowan and his wife, Dr. Freifeld, who serves as director of oncology infectious diseases at UNMC/Nebraska Medicine, have not only fallen in love with Omaha. They have fallen in love with Nebraska. Among the first outstate events they attended was the 1999 Cattleman’s Ball, one of the Midwest’s premier fundraising events benefitting cancer research. Held in a different Nebraska location each year, the Cattleman’s Ball pulls everyone in town – and often the entire county – together to focus on making the two-night event
a success. In 2018, the ball in Hebron raised nearly $1.75 million for cancer research. Ninety percent of the profits benefit the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, with 10 percent donated back to local community health and wellness programs. Over the past 21 years, the ball has raised more than $15.8 million. Dr. Cowan and Dr. Freifeld attended the second Cattleman’s Ball, held that year in Lexington – and haven’t missed one since. “It is amazing how each year, more than 700 people from an often small community will work together for a year to bring 4,500 people together in a large tent for two nights of food, music, and fun, all for a very good cause,” he says. “Every rural part of Nebraska is raising money for cancer.” He says the Cattleman’s Ball is a prime example of the generosity and philanthropic nature of all Nebraskans. “It really told me something about the incredible commitment Nebraskans have to each other, and I have seen it grow year after year.” --Please turn to page 10.
“Wonderful World” “Chain Gang” “Cupid” “Mr. Bojangles” “The Candy Man” Wayne Brady, the Emmy-winning singer, dancer, actor and comedian, takes center stage with the Omaha Symphony for an unforgettable tribute to two entertainment icons: Sam Cooke and Sammy Davis Jr. With his trademark humor and extraordinary talent, Brady delivers classic hits and more, in a high-energy, one-night-only event!
Saturday, April 13 • 8 pm Holland Center
2 019 GAL A CON CE RT FE ATURI N G
Concert Sponsor
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Media Sponsor
Thomas Wilkins, conductor
OMAHASYMPHONY.ORG
March 2019
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New Horizons
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