graduate researcher

assistant professor

postdoctoral research associate

instructor

postdoctoral fellow

University of Nebraska Medical Center

UNMC, according to me is the perfect place for a fresh post doc with lot of energy and enthusiasm. The work environ is pleasant, with peers who are admired and awe inspiring.

My typical day at work starts at 8am in the morning stretching unto late hours of night.As a post doc in stem cell biology lab, my focus of work was to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms of adult retinal stem cell activation and their possible plasticity potential to tweak them towards photoreceptor lineage. My research
work encompasses lots of mammalian tissue culture (stem cells), molecular biology, immunological techniques, in vivo animal experiments and various histological techniques.

Being a post doc, it was always a race against time. That said, I have to balance and organize lot of things, against tight dead lines.In other words, life at UNMC did help me hone my time management skills. Apart from regular research work, I was also
actively handling various administrative responsibilities, viz., IRB approvals, IACUC (animal handling) protocols, maintenance of animal colonies, purchase orders and stocking of reagents etc.

I have been quite fortunate to have helping and understanding colleagues, who have been an indispensable source of team spirit and moral support during testing times.We work towards maintaining a harmonious relationship with mutual respect.

The hardest part of my job is to multi task various aspects of research and administrative responsibilities in day to day activities.However,my exposure to work atmosphere, since my doctoral graduate days have taught me nuances of how to handle
such situations under stress, without losing focus and at the same time,achieving excellence.

The easiest part of my job is my ability to interact with people, which forms a part and parcel of my job. Being a researcher, I have to communicate with people from different work backgrounds and diverse cultures.This interaction does translate into team work and also helps me better understand and learn from my counter parts with regards to their perspectives towards work ethics and various aspects of personality development,which helped me shape myself into a better human being, on a personal and professional front.

A typical day in Environmental Services was sadly very unorganized at the management level, with apparently little to no communication between the different leadership. The consequences of the management staff's inadequacy unfortunately trickled down to the regular staff, in ways completely unfair to them such as being assigned an unrealistic workload for the day, or most commonly, employess consistently running out of necessary supplies, and not being able to locate required cleaning machinery for the day's tasks. 'EVS' associates were some of the few hospital employees required to work weekends, which is not an issue at all, however the attendance policy states that missing a weekend work day requires a make-up day of work on the proceeding weekend, even if you were ill or had other obligations, such as a funeral in my case. Management staff did not believe that my grandmother had passed away, and made me use their computer to google search my dearly departed family, and print out her obituary, all before my shift started at 7am. I had to make up my weekend work that I missed regardless, and because of that ended up working ten days straight with no day off. I am aware that many hard-working Americans go much longer without a day off, but with such a physically-demanding and risky job (risky because of required cleaning of rooms containing dangerous pathogens such as MRSA, SARS, tuberculosis, and the Staph family of diseases, not to mention daily exposure to any bodily fluid you can think of), it was very demoralizing and by the end of the ten day stretch my proverbial gas tank was empty, and my work performance suffered greatly from fatigue, despite continuing to eat well and get adequate sleep. To say that whole experience upset me would be a drastic understatement. But hey, at least the benefits package is pretty good.

This is by far one of the worst working environments I have had the displeasure of working in. Where do I begin? The managers are lazy, incompetent, and rude. If you have the misfortune of falling ill while working here, you will be bullied and threatened with termination to come in to work. Many people have come into work WHEN CONTAGIOUS because of this reason. Because of this stomach flu has spread like crazy among the staff and children many times. One time, one of the teachers was forced to work while throwing up repeatedly.

Good luck taking a day off. The manager will put you on a waiting list until the day of. Then when it is the day of she has forced people to work. If you put it in in advance she will tell you that it is too early to let you have it off. Sometimes she has forgotten that she let people off and yelled at them for not coming in or messed up ratios in the rooms because she was expecting them to be there. The favorites are allowed to have endless days off.

There are many negative people working there with attitude and ego problems who do not get handled properly. They tell you to suck it up if you have an issue with them. They will force you to work with people who belittle and disparage you consistently. People will gossip and spread rumors about every little thing. There have been many people who have been fired for being rough with the kids. One of the teachers keeps hot sauce in her cabinets and has not been told to remove even though one of her past assistants allegedly told people she was using it to discipline the children. Good luck telling HR, they don't care and won't handle any problems.

Stay away from this place. This is one of the worst jobs I have ever had.

Overall, UNMC is a wonderful place to work.  Having said that, choose your department carefully and ask for the best salary you can get when you are hired - because it will not really change unless you get a different job.  There are small cost-of-living bumps each year at review time, but the cost of insurance will usually go up, as does parking, etc., so you may end up making less in real life.  They will offer you about 33% of the max, so counter/negotiate upfront and they will likely give it to you, but that is the best it will get.
Benefits are really good, and pay is better than at any other Nebraska campus.  Food is expensive here, so learn to pack your lunch, but if you are going to eat here, the food is great and varied.
Some departments have 1-hour lunches and consider community events part of the workday - like blood drives - but some are strict about 30-minute lunches and any event out of the office will require you to use sick or vacation time.  It really depends on the department, so ask in the interview.  How flexible they are on these issues will tell you how they will be to work with on a daily basis.
The best benefit that is unused by most is the 15 free hours of school you can get at UNO per year.  That is how I got my Master's degree nearly free.  Don't ignore this valuable resource.  Even if you only take yoga classes, take them and enjoy!

Specific Duties:
• Assisting in the design and implementation of research
• Carrying out analysis of experimental data
• Developing and maintaining accurate records of results (ensuring data security and backup)
• Preparation of results for publication in scientific journals
• Assisting in the preparation of conference presentations or research findings
• Participation in meeting and discussions as required
• Advising and collaborating with undergraduate project students, Masters and PhD students within the context of the research programme.
• Assisting with the day to day running of a research laboratory (maintaining a safe and tidy working environment and ensuring compliance with all Health & Safety requirements).
• To carry out additional duties related to research at the chemistry biological interface as may from time to time be required.

What I liked about the job was the fact that there was a lot of collaboration between different research groups. All the researchers were willing to help and share there research and equipments. The environment was very friendly, which definitely made the work enjoyable. The hardest and the best part of the job was that we had to present research papers (from other groups) every week, and criticize/suggest what could have added to the research. I learnt a great deal and it further broadened my knowledge.

A typical work day consists of running scientific experiments in a laboratory research setting with numerous interactions amongst peers and superiors. University of Nebraska Medical Center is a great place to work since there is strong emphasis on teaching entry level employees the necessary skills to succeed in their field. The management is terrific at UNMC as they offer frequent feedback on employee progress and have a genuine desire to see their employees succeed on multiple levels of their lives. Co-worker camaraderie at UNMC is top notch and further contributes to the excellent work environment and to the overall success of the institution. The most difficult part of work at UNMC is divorcing oneself from so many creative and exciting projects in order to spend time doing other activities! While the most enjoyable part of the job is day to day interactions that occur amongst so many spirited and enthusiastic professionals.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working with the Doctors and Nurses

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The way you are treated by the Administrators. Some have no idea how to treat their workers. Micromanaging is the worst for workers! We are able to determine how to do our jobs and we don’t need to be micromanaged. Some administrators have no clue on how things are to be done! Tells the workers that there is training from a binder! Very poor judgment not to sit and teach how to do the job! There is a huge turn around in some departments due to the Administrators terrible learning! HR is no help in the matters at hand!

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Stressful and high Anxiety from the Administrators in some departments! It is told in many departments that there is no help when needed! 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Stressful and pushed into doing several duties and expected to get assignments done in a short time!! They need to set in our shoes and do our jobs and see how they like it!

What is the best part of working at the company?
I was a third party contractor through Sodexo CTM. Had it not been for poor Biomed Management, I would still be working there. I enjoyed the fast pace workload and making a difference every day. I had a 8 year reputation of trust and commitment. Some days were more challenging than others but I enjoyed the feeling of the challenge. Also knowing that department managers trusted me to get things done effectively and they could see the difference. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The stressful part of working at NM was being that third party contractor with a Director who only focused on monthly profits instead of doing the right thing at the end of the day.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Sometimes hospital staff demanded service instead of being respectful knowing we all shared the same goal at the end of the day. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Met departments needs and always focused on communication.

On any given day at The Nebraska Medical Center, I was required to review 50-100 rejected claims to correct errors and submit to the insurance company.  Worked closely with the certified coder in the clinic to correct ICD-9 and CPT codes to allow clean claims to go to the insurance company.  Would review patient demographics and insurance information and make any corrections needed.  Assisted co-workers with understanding of coding processes, and how to appeal denied claims.  

Two most enjoyable parts of my job:
Working with the patients to resolve any issues with their insurance claims and/or statements.
Ability to find and help co-workers find a solution to a coding problem.  I would contact insurance representatives, research coding guidelines on various websites (Medicare, Medicaid, AAPC) and contact former co-workers until the problem was solved.



The Nebraska Medical Center was a large organization trying to fight for market share in a very competitive medical industry. My role was to manage a family practice medicine program by over seeing the daily operations of the clinic. This meant I had to make sure everyone was abiding by JCAHO standards, OSHA standards, Medicare and Medicaid guidelines. It also required me to supervise a staff of 18 residents, 7 faculty and 25 employees. 

I was responsible for writing and enforcing policies and procedures outside of the Nebraska Medical Center that applied to my specific office. I had to have monthly meetings with the staff to educate and train them on the new policies and procedures. 

I implemented and designed two electronic medical records systems. As part of this process I had to set up a schedule to ensure all employees, physicians and residents were trained on how to use the system.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Graduate researcher 10 salaries reported	$29,100 per year
Assistant professor 5 salaries reported	$99,200 per year
Postdoctoral research associate 3 salaries reported	$53,804 per year
Instructor 6 salaries reported	$56,510 per year
Postdoctoral fellow 3 salaries reported	$55,495 per year

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