Featuring Dr. Holloway

Holloway Knew Early He Wanted to be a Doctor

From an early age, Jeffrey Holloway, MD, FACS, knew he wanted to be a doctor. Deciding his future specialty was another matter.

“I was not intending to be a surgeon until I did my surgery rotation in medical school,” Dr. Holloway said. “Then I just loved it – the adrenaline rush, the excitement, the ability to see a problem and fix a problem with your hands and see the outcome. A few days into the surgery rotation, I knew that was what I was going to do.”

After completing his residency at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1998, Dr. Holloway signed on with the Western Surgical Group in Scottsbluff, which later became Regional West Physicians Clinic-Surgery, Vascular Diagnostics.

In addition to his surgical practice, Dr. Holloway is the Physicians Clinic president, a role he has occupied since October 2019. As president, Dr. Holloway works closely with Physicians Clinic COO Martha Stricker, MBA, RN, CMPE, and members of Regional West Health Services administration, including President and CEO John Mentgen, FACHE.

“I really enjoy working on the administrative side,” Dr. Holloway said. As the Regional West executive team works through challenges, such as COVID-19, Dr. Holloway has appreciated the team’s ability to react to different situations. “I realized that John Mentgen has put together a really strong team. It’s been fun to be a part of that.”

A native of Norfolk, Neb., Dr. Holloway met his wife, Kim, while he was in medical school in Washington, D.C. and she was a traveling nurse. The couple married during his fourth year of medical school, and now have five grown children. Medicine runs in the Holloway family. His mother was a nurse. He had aunts who were nurses, and uncles who were doctors. For the next generation, daughter Micah is currently a medical student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Dr. Holloway said he loves western Nebraska, the hospital, and the people with whom he works – crediting them with helping him grow as a leader in his 23 years at Regional West.

“As I look back over the years, I’m so fortunate to have the partners that I did,” he said. “They were mentors and leaders, and I learned so much.”

Dr. Holloway said he looks back at the providers he has worked with over the years and sees as mentors, and realizes that now he is a mentor to the younger providers.

“The providers I work with in my clinic have been phenomenal, and that’s what’s kept me here. It’s my job, but why I love my job is the people I work with,” he said.

Recruiting the next generation of leaders is part of Dr. Holloway’s role as Physicians Clinic president.

Dr. Holloway said, citing the need to create a quality culture, be attentive to the needs of providers and be willing to make changes as needs arise.

The thought of helping people was appealing from an early age. Helping people is still what motivates Dr. Holloway.

“Going through surgery is a very vulnerable time for most people,” he said. “They’re putting a lot of trust in you and the whole operative team. That’s a big responsibility, and comes with a lot of joy when you see the end result.

“It’s a good feeling when you go home after a long day in the operating room. You can say, ‘Yeah, I’ve made an impact in a positive way.’”