David Adkins

Vice Chancellor for External Affairs
University of Kansas Medical Center
3901 Rainbow Blvd, MS 3013
Kansas City, KS 66160
Office: 913-588-5240
Email: dadkins@kumc.edu

As Vice Chancellor for External Affairs, David Adkins leads the advancement and outreach efforts of the University of Kansas Medical Center.  In this role he guides a team of dedicated professionals committed to enhancing the health of Kansans.

The External Affairs Division includes Alumni Relations, Community Relations, Governmental Relations, University Relations, Rural Health Education and Services, the Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth, Continuing Education, Outreach Aircraft and the Area Health Education Centers.

Prior to joining the KU Medical Center David served as a member of the Kansas Legislature where he was elected to four terms in the House of Representatives and one term in the Senate.  During his service he was elected Chairman of the eleven-state Midwestern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments.

David is a fifth-generation, native Kansan, born in Manhattan, and raised in Alma, Wichita, Salina and Topeka.  He earned degrees in political science and law from the University of Kansas where he served as student body president and was the first KU student selected to receive a Harry S. Truman Scholarship.

Upon graduation from law school David joined the Prairie Village, Kansas law firm founded by former Kansas Governor Robert F. Bennett and was subsequently named a partner in the firm.  The Kansas Bar Association bestowed its Outstanding Young Lawyer Award on David in 1996.

David also served as the founding executive director of the Community Foundation of Johnson County, an affiliate of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.

David is a member of the William Jewell College Board of Trustees and is a Director of the Johnson County Community College Foundation. He was named a Kansas Health Foundation Fellow in 2005 and is a 1988 graduate of Leadership Kansas.

David and his wife, Lisa, also a former KU Student Body President, live in Leawood with their daughter, Nell.