Brief History of KU School of Medicine

The University of Kansas School of Medicine began as a two-year medical preparatory program in 1880 on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kansas. In 1889, Simeon Bell, MD, donated land and money to the state of Kansas for a medical school in Rosedale, a suburb just south of Kansas City, Kansas. Dr. Bell's intent was to build a teaching hospital so that the University of Kansas could provide medical education for future physicians. The school and Bell Memorial Hospital, named after his wife Eleanor, moved to its present location in Kansas City, Kansas in 1924.

The hospital, now a quasi public authority known as The University of Kansas Hospital, is part of a large campus known as the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) that is comprised of the School of Medicine, School of Allied Health, School of Nursing, Graduate Studies, Kansas University Research Institute, and several other research and clinical centers.

KU graduated 57 students from the medical school's first class in 1906. Today, the school annually enrolls 175 students in its four-year MD program. Students spend their first two years, the pre-clinical phase, in Kansas City. The remaining two years, the clinical phase, are completed at either the KUMC campus in Kansas City or at the school's branch clinical campus in Wichita. After graduation, students enter into residency training programs all over the country.

Other degrees offered by the school include a Masters in Public Health, a Masters in Health Policy Management, and a MD/PhD degree. These outstanding basic science programs offer graduate degrees in the following disciplines: microbiology, molecular genetics and immunology, anatomy and cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, pharmacology, toxicology, and therapeutics, pathology laboratory medicine, molecular and integrative physiology.

The faculty and staff of the KU School of Medicine in Kansas City and Wichita are dedicated to preparing their students for the future of medicine by providing innovative education and training needed to practice in today's ever-changing health care delivery system.