Karoly Mirnics, MD, PhD, Named New Director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute (NE UCEDD/LEND)

March 24, 2016

Following a nationwide search, Karoly Mirnics, MD, PhD, has accepted the position of director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation, part of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE.

Dr. Mirnics, pending approval of University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds, PhD, and the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, will begin at MMI this July. He replaces J. Michael Leibowitz, PhD, who retired in late 2015, and Wayne Stuberg, PhD, who has served in an interim role.

"The Munroe-Meyer Institute is an important part of UNMC's mission," said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD "Dr. Mirnics brings an extraordinary degree of experience to this important role, and under his guidance, I am sure we will see MMI expand on its already impressive accomplishments in research, education and clinical care. I am honored to recommend him to President Bounds and the Board of Regents for this prestigious leadership role."

At Vanderbilt University, Dr. Mirnics was the James G. Blakemore Professor of Psychiatry and vice chair for research, department of psychiatry; associate director of Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development; and senior fellow of Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education (VIIBRE). He served as the associate director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and the U154 IDDRC Core Director.

Dr. Mirnics said he and his wife, Zeljka Korade-Mirnics, DVM, PhD, look forward to becoming part of the UNMC community.

"This is an amazing opportunity that comes around once in a lifetime," he said. "MMI and UNMC are building something extraordinary, and Zeljka and I are excited to have the pleasure and privilege of becoming part of it.

"I look forward to further developing this already exceptional enterprise and to engaging the broader intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) community statewide," he said. "I strongly believe that with our joint efforts MMI will become the national and worldwide leader of IDD-related patient care, education, outreach and research."