Barbara F. Atkinson, MD

Executive Vice Chancellor
Executive Dean, School of Medicine

batkinson@kumc.edu

Barbara F. Atkinson, MD, is committed to leading the University of Kansas School of Medicine in attaining its goals for the discovery of new knowledge, the education of health professionals and the improvement of health for the public.

Dr. Atkinson earned her medical degree at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. She received residency training in pathology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. As part of her training, she was awarded an NIH Pulmonary Training Fellowship in Pulmonary Pathology and an NIH Research Fellowship Award in Pulmonary Pathology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is certified by the American Board of Pathology in cytopathology and anatomic and clinical pathology.

Following her fellowships through 1978 Dr. Atkinson became an assistant professor and associate professor of pathology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. During her 13 years with the university, she also served as associate scientist for the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology and as a member of the Pathology Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania. In 1987, Dr. Atkinson was appointed professor and chair of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, which later became the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University, a post she held until 1996. During that time she also served as a senior member of the College's Center for Gerontological Research. From 1996 to 1999 Dr. Atkinson was the Annenberg Dean for the MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine, Allegheny University of the Health Sciences.

Dr. Atkinson arrived at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in January 2000 as professor and chair of pathology and laboratory medicine. She was named the School's executive dean and vice chancellor for clinical affairs in August 2002 and remains an active professor of pathology. Her research has been in the identification and characterization of tumor antigens in cells and tissues and in development of techniques to recognize tumors and tumor types.

Dr. Atkinson is an elected member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and she has held elected offices in nearly a dozen professional societies. She also has held editorial positions on various professional journals and has edited several books in cytopathology and gynecologic pathology. Currently, she is working on a new edition of the Atlas of Cytopathology to be published in 2003.

Dr. Atkinson's academic and professional honors are numerous, including the Leonard Berwick Award for Distinguished Teaching, Which Effectively Fuses Basic Science and Clinical Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in Clinical Sciences and the Golden Apple Teaching Award for Excellent Science Teaching for Programs for Integrated Learning, Medical College of Pennsylvania; the Jefferson Medical College Alumni Achievement Award; and the Helmuth Sprinz Award for Residency Education, University of Kansas School of Medicine.