Honorary Doctor of Science

Harold M. Maurer, M.D.
Chancellor, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Dr. Harold M. Maurer is an internationally recognized medical scientist leading the University of Nebraska Medical Center on its path to become a world-class academic health sciences center.

Maurer has served as UNMC’s chancellor since 1998. Before that, he served as dean of its College of Medicine for five years. He came to Nebraska after 25 years as professor and chair of the Medical College of Virginia’s Department of Pediatrics.

A pediatric oncologist, Maurer is internationally known for his expertise in rhabdomyosarcoma, a childhood cancer. He served as principal investigator of National Institute of Health research grant awards and chaired the national Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group for 26 years. That group has been credited with raising the cure rate from 20 to 75 percent. In 2003, the Children’s Oncology Group awarded Maurer with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

He led the merger of University Hospital and Clarkson Hospital to form the Nebraska Health System, now known as The Nebraska Medical Center, advancing its excellence in education, research and clinical care.

As chancellor, Maurer has seen UNMC add nine new facilities with a 10th underway.

In 2009, Maurer was appointed to a three-year term on the board of directors of the Association of Academic Health Centers. In 2010, he was appointed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office to a three-year term on the newly created National Health Care Workforce Commission, a landmark group that is charged with finding answers to the health care workforce shortages that need to be addressed in this era of health care reform.