Barbara Atkinson, MD

Executive Vice Chancellor, University of Kansas Medical Center
Executive Dean and Vice Chancellor for Clinical Affairs, School of Medicine

Barbara Atkinson leads the University of Kansas Medical Center's efforts to enhance human health by championing leading edge biomedical research, providing exceptional students with excellent educational opportunities and patients with access to the latest advances in medicine. As Executive Vice Chancellor, she oversees KU's Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health with more than 2,610 students and 635 faculty members.

She is focused on improving our region's health by bringing a National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer center to the medical center and advancing the medical center's prestigious research programs in cancer, neurology, liver, kidney and reproductive biology. Dr. Atkinson is leading the effort for curriculum change for the medical school to ensure students are learning basic and clinical science from those who are on the leading edge of advancing medical knowledge.

Dr. Atkinson is a respected pathologist and a member of the esteemed National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. She is one of only 13 women nationally serving as dean of a medical school, the first woman to lead the KU Medical Center and the only woman to simultaneously hold the positions of medical school dean and executive vice chancellor of a medical center.

Dr. Atkinson’s academic and professional honors are numerous. She is a Life Trustee and a past president of the American Board of Pathology, and she holds the distinction of being the first woman and the first cytopathologist to be elected as a trustee. She is a member of the AAMC Committee on Increasing Women’s Leadership in Academic Medicine and council member of the American Society for Investigative Pathology. She is currently a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners. She also has held editorial positions on various professional journals and has edited several books in cytopathology and gynecologic pathology.

Dr. Atkinson’s passion for educating students and residents is frequently recognized. Among her teaching honors, she received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in Clinical Sciences and the Golden Apple Teaching Award for Excellent Science Teaching for Integrated Learning Programs from the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Atkinson joined the campus of the University of Kansas Medical Center in 2000.