Many of us who now enjoy careers in health care and research can often look back to a teacher who introduced us to the possibility of a vocation in science. Teachers – science teachers, in particular – can be strong mentors for students. And with the demand for health care professionals on the rise, it is more critical than ever that our elementary and secondary education teachers instill a passion for science and math in their students.
High school science teachers from across Kansas were at KU Medical Center last week, participating in a summer externship developed by KUMC’s Area Health Education Centers (AHECs). The program is designed to help science teachers get an up close and personal look at the wide variety of health care careers available today and to pass that experience and knowledge on to their students during the school year.
The group had the opportunity to tour many areas of the Medical Center and KU Hospital. The teachers sat in on classes and met with recruiters for all three schools. They toured simulation labs, visited with researchers in orthopedics, cancer and reproductive sciences and talked with current students.
From all accounts, the teachers found the externship experience extremely beneficial. Here are some of the comments we received from them:
“It was fantastic to see the commitment from the students here who are pursuing their dreams… that is something that can certainly be shared with our students.”
“The processes that KU uses to make sure that students are successful were evident in so many ways.”
“My students always want to know when they are going to use a skill or a piece of knowledge. The tour showed how I could correlate what is being taught in the classroom with what will happen in the work place.”
It was wonderful to serve as host to this group of inspiring educators. Hopefully we will see many of their students at KU Medical Center a few years down the road, training to be the health care professionals and scientists of the future!
Stella Tharp (right), a high school science teacher from Ottawa, Kan., gets a hands-on tutorial on how to take a blood pressure reading. Helping her out is Mary Meyer, RN, MSN, director of the KU School of Nursing Clinical Learning Lab. Ms. Tharp was one of the group of high school science teachers from around the state who participated in a summer externship at KU Medical Center last week.
In the News
The KU Cancer Center, along with the Friends of Cancer Research, Kansas Bioscience Authority, Kauffman Foundation, and Council for American Medical Innovation are convening a symposium on The New Role of Academia in Drug Development: New Thinking, New Competencies, New Results. The event is July 6th at the The Kauffman Foundation Conference Center in Kansas City. The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, will deliver the keynote address on advancing a federal policy platform to support and promote the role of academia in drug development. More information is available here.
The KU School of Medicine is ranked 5th among the country’s 141 medical schools in a first-ever study on how well medical schools meet their social mission to train doctors. The George Washington University researchers who authored the study defined social mission as the percentage of graduates practicing primary care, the number of graduates from underrepresented minorities, and how many work in health-professional-shortage areas. Details here.
KU Medical Center and The University of Kansas Hospital have established the state’s first Emergency Medicine residency program. The new program will add six residents a year for three years for a total of 18. Additional residency positions could be added in the future. You can learn more about this exciting program here.
H. David Wilson, MD, Dean of the School of Medicine-Wichita, has a new blog on the School's website. Check out the blog here.
Community
On Saturday, August 2, the Kansas City Delta Delta Delta Alumnae Association, in partnership with KU Endowment, will sponsor the 5th annual “A Chance for Children” 5K Run/Walk and Kids’ Fun Run, which raises funds to benefit the KU Kids Healing Place. Please consider joining us at Corporate Woods in Overland Park for this great event. You can get more information about the walk and can register here.
Faculty News
Please join me in congratulating Richard Korentager, MD, on his promotion to chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery. Dr. Korentager has served as interim chairman since 2009 and will continue his excellent work in leading the department, which recently gained approval from the Kansas Board of Regents.
Michael Kennedy, MD, Associate Dean for Rural Health, has been elected as the Junior Co-Chair of the Rural Medical Educators Group of the National Rural Health Association. Congratulations, Dr. Kennedy, on this well-deserved national leadership position.
We were saddened to hear about the death of former KU Medical Center faculty member Joseph Hollowell, MD, MPH. Dr. Hollowell was a clinical professor of pediatrics from 2001 to 2007 and also served as director of the Center for Child Health and Development. Our sympathies go out to Dr. Hollowell's wife, children and grandchildren.