The 2019 UConn Health Board of Directors Faculty Recognition Award recipient is Jacqueline “Kiki” Nissen, M.D., FACP. She will be honored on May 13 at the commencement ceremony for UConn Health’s medical, dental and graduate school students.
Nissen serves as UConn School of Medicine’s senior associate dean for faculty affairs and associate dean for graduate medical education. As an internist she also provides primary care to patients as a professor in the Department of Medicine at UConn Health.
UConn has been the home to Nissen’s medical education since 1985 when she began medical school and her entire career in medicine. She completed medical school at UConn in 1989, her UConn internal medicine residency training in 1994 serving then as chief medical resident, and joined the faculty in 1996 as an internal medicine physician.
“My journey of success at the University of Connecticut stems from my desire and commitment to make a daily difference in academics and healthcare,” said Nissen. “I have always seen myself as part of the bigger team here at UConn Health and have never stopped dreaming about new ways to make things better for the organization and its people.”
Nissen added, “This amazing journey will continue, as I see my success in the context of service to my patients, trainees, the institution, and Connecticut. I made a decision early in my career to stay in Connecticut, raise a family, and make a difference at UConn Health in one of the most rewarding professions – academic medicine and healthcare.”
As associate dean for graduate medical education, Nissen oversees more than 60 sponsored graduate medical education programs and 670 residents and fellows annually. She also is a strong advocate for medical education as a top priority at UConn, and on the regional and national stage.
“We are so thankful for Kiki’s longstanding service to UConn School of Medicine, and our countless students, residents, fellows, faculty, and staff across UConn Health the last three decades. She is a highly regarded practicing internist with a sustained record of academic leadership and has served the institution effectively well,” said Dr. Bruce T. Liang, dean of UConn School of Medicine. “Testament to Dr. Nissen’s leadership is our medical school’s very large and successful residency and fellowship programs.”
“Dr. Nissen is a well-respected clinician and tireless advocate for medical education and faculty development,” said Dr. Cheryl Oncken, chair of the Department of Medicine at UConn School of Medicine. “She has dedicated her career to UConn and academic medicine. As a result we are all the better for it and have excelled as an institution under her leadership.”
Nissen is board-certified in internal medicine. She previously served as the vice chair of the Department of Medicine and Division Chief for General Internal Medicine. She has received several awards for her excellence in clinical care, teaching and academic leadership, along with outstanding evaluations from the resident physician trainees and the faculty she advises, develops and mentors.
“To be recognized by UConn Health’s Board of Directors is very humbling and I am thankful to UConn for the last nearly 35 years of exciting cutting-edge education and medicine opportunities and the privilege of training generations of physicians.”
