November 5, 2009

In the past week or so, I have had the pleasure of presenting two of our faculty members with endowed professorships. Buddhadeb Dawn, MD, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, was given the Maureen and Marvin Dunn Professorship in Cardiovascular Disease on Oct. 26, and Debra K. Sullivan, PhD, RD, associate professor and chair of the Dietetics and Nutrition Department in the KU School of Allied Health, received the Midwest Dairy Council’s Endowed Professorship in Clinical Nutrition on Oct. 29.

Participating in these investiture ceremonies is one of my favorite things to do in my role as executive vice chancellor. The investitures give us the opportunity to acknowledge and honor the recipients and to recognize the donors, their families and their extraordinary generosity to the University of Kansas Medical Center.

There are many reasons why KU Medical Center is on the rise, but at the heart of our success is our outstanding faculty. It is the faculty who carry out the mission of educating students, caring for patients and contributing to our cutting-edge research. These distinguished faculty members help draw other renowned colleagues to KUMC, which in turn attracts excellent graduate and undergraduate medical students, improving the overall quality of education and research throughout our institution.

One of the reasons we have been able to add so many top-flight faculty members in the past several years is the support provided by endowed funds. When public funding declines and is unable to keep up with growth, that gap is filled through donated funds raised by KU Endowment. The support of our generous donors has played a major role in making KU Medical Center the world-class institution it has become.