This has been a week of celebrations at KU Medical Center. We hosted a wonderful Alumni Weekend and invested three accomplished faculty (see Education).
Saturday night we recognized distinguished and honorary alumni, as well as those with early career achievements, at our annual Gala. (See photos). We also presented two new community awards: the Life Sciences Leadership Award to Joerg Ohle, president and general manager of Bayer Animal Health in Kansas City; and our Distinguished Service Medallion to Drue Jennings, a Kansas City civic leader and attorney.
One of our alumni award winners, Martha Staker, RN, MS, MA, director of Project EAGLE in the Department of Pediatrics, was part of two other special events this past week. She received the Honorary Nursing Alumna award on Saturday, and on Tuesday led the groundbreaking for the new Children’s Campus to be located at the corner of 5th and Minnesota Ave. in Kansas City, Kan.
Martha is the president of the Board of Directors of the Children’s Campus and led the effort to raise almost $16 million needed to build the facility. It will house a variety of agencies and services that support children and families in Wyandotte County.
Project EAGLE, which provides child development and family support services, and the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, a program of the Lawrence campus that improves children’s developmental and educational experiences, will be located at the Children’s Campus.
It is wonderful to see this dream of improving the lives of children come true. Congratulations to all.
Martha Staker, RN, MS, MA, director of Project EAGLE and president of the Children's Campus of Kansas City (center), led the groundbreaking ceremony of the Campus. It will house, among other services, parenting education, crisis intervention, and mental health services for Wyandotte County families. Read more about the Children's Campus.
Research
On Oct. 23-25, the Bill Narayan Memorial Symposium on emerging concepts in HIV pathogenesis and vaccine development will be held at KUMC to honor Narayan's work in HIV and AIDS. Information and registration.
Congratulations to Elizabeth Ablah, PhD, MPH, assistant professor for public health and preventive medicine, for receiving a $100,000 EPA research award for a community collaborative project led by SOM-Wichita to create and sustain partnerships dedicated to understanding and informing the community about toxic risks and pollutant effects on Wichita.
Congratulations to Jared Grantham, MD, whose clinical practice article on autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease was published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. Read Dr. Grantham's clinical recommendations here.
Education
This week we also celebrated three new endowed professorships. On Monday, we had an investiture for Terry Tsue, MD, FACS, associate dean of graduate medical education, as the Douglas Girod Professor of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, and Hinrich Staecker, MD, PhD, associate professor of otolaryngology, as the David and Marilyn Zamierowski Professor of Head and Skull Base Surgical Oncology. Just today, we celebrated Leslie Heckert, PhD, professor of molecular and integrative physiology, as the new Marion M. Osborn Professor for Reproductive Sciences. Congratulations to all.
The Rural Medicine Interest Group and the Family Medicine Interest Group will welcome George Miller, Jr., past president of the National Rural Health Association, to campus at noon on Friday, Oct. 17, in Rieke Auditorium. Students, faculty and staff are invited to attend.
Community
Next week we will launch the KUMC and KUPI United Way Giving Campaign. We are hoping to exceed last year's total of $85,000. Look for more information in the coming weeks.
Last week, KUMC was named the UpLink 2008 Partner of the Year by YouthFriends. This summer we hosted 10 TeacherTech externs at the Medical Center, the most of any area employer. Thanks to all who were involved, and please consider hiring a TeacherTech this summer. For more information, contact Paula Baum at 8-1017.
A Bone Marrow Drive will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 15 in the Hixson Atrium. For more information, contact Cheryl Martin at cmartin@kumc.edu.
Other Items of Interest
I'd like to welcome our new alumni director, Kim Huyett, to KUMC. I hope you will greet Kim with new ideas and support for our alumni programs.
Kudos
Congratulations to the JayDoc Community Clinic in Wichita, which received a Caring for Community grant from the AAMC worth $20,000 over the next four years. Thanks to resident Kari Hamlin, who was on last year's board, and students Ashley Mathews and John May, who also sat on the executive board, for their work on the grant. See a list of all the AAMC grant recipients.
Congratulations to the Department of Clinical Laboratory Science and the KU Hospital Clinical Labs, which celebrated their 75th year at the University of Kansas Medical Center this last weekend.