Nominations for the Grand Island Senior High School Hall of Honor are accepted throughout each year. The Hall of Honor Committee will review all submitted nominations and honor inductees every other year. We are excited to announce the Hall of Honor Banquet & Celebration will be held again on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.
The Hall of Honor, inaugurated in 1983, recognizes Grand Island Senior High School alumni who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the betterment of society. Nominees must have graduated more than 20 years ago from the high school.
Amy C. Cannella, MD, MS, RhMSUS
Class of 1989
Hall of Honor 2017
Dr. Amy Cannella was born in Omaha, NE, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). She was raised in Grand Island, graduating with the Grand Island Senior High class of 1989. She received her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. In 1993, Canella returned to UNMC to pursue her medical degree. She has also obtained an MS, Internal Medicine training at UNMC and currently works and teaches for the University.
From 2001-2003, Cannella attended the University of Utah for fellowship training in Rheumatology. Prior to returning to UNMC in 2005, she served on the faculties of the University of Missouri, Columbia, and the University of Utah, and spent a year in Florida in private practice.
After training in Glasgow, Scotland, Dr. Cannella was among the first rheumatologists in the U.S. to utilize Musculoskeletal Ultrasound (MSUS) for the care of patients with rheumatic disease. She has subsequently been actively training rheumatologists on the local and national level, developing a national curriculum and publishing on education and the evolution of MSUS in the United States.
In addition to patient care, education is her passion. Establishing the rheumatology fellowship program at UNMC in 2005, Cannella continues to serve as the program director. UNMC consistently ranks among the top programs in the country, receiving award funding from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and boasts a 100% board pass rate since inception. Also known for her innovative teaching style, Cannella is a recipient of the Residency Top Teacher award and the 2017 College of Medicine Pioneering Women in Basic Science Education Award. She has served on national ACR education committees, and currently chairs the Continuing Assessment in Rheumatology Education (CARE) committee.
Humbled and honored by this recognition, Dr. Cannella credits a large measure of her success to her patients, who give her perspective; her colleagues for inspiring excellence; her trainees for pushing her to be better; and her teachers for their high expectations. She also credits her family, including her mother, who exemplifies compassion and perseverance; her father, who models integrity and dependability; her siblings who hold each other accountable; her husband who always sees the good in others; and her three children, who remind her to “have fun!”
