Three KU Medical Center scholars named 2025 Faculty of the Year by Kansas Board of Regents

Three of the 17 recipients of the 2025 Faculty of the Year award by the Kansas Board of Regents, the governing board of the state’s six state universities, are faculty from the University of Kansas Medical Center. Five of the award winners are from the University of Kansas.

The awards program recognizes the outstanding contributions of faculty at Kansas state universities to teaching, student success, research and Kansas communities. The state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents are Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas and Wichita State University.

KU Medical Center faculty awardees are Dinesh Pal Mudaranthakam, Ph.D.; Laurie Steen, OTD; and Sufi Mary Thomas, Ph.D. The winners were recognized at the Kansas Board of Regents’ meeting held Sept. 17.

“The Regents are excited to recognize the many accomplishments of the outstanding faculty and staff nominated in 2025. Faculty help students develop lifelong skills and conduct research that drives innovation and economic growth,” said Blake Benson, chair of the Kansas Board of Regents.

Dinesh Pal Mudaranthakam

Mudaranthakam is an assistant professor of biostatistics and data science and director of research information technology at KU School of Medicine. He also co-directs the Biostatistics and Informatics Shared Resource and is assistant director for the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center neuroimaging core. As a health policy researcher, Mudaranthakam’s work strives to ease the financial, mental and stress-related barriers that cancer and Alzheimer’s disease patients and their caregivers face in obtaining care.

Following a study of computer science at Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University in Hyderabad, India, Mudaranthakam earned a master’s degree in computer science from Kansas State University and a Master of Business Administration from KU. He also earned a doctorate in health policy and management from KU.

Laurie Steen

Steen is a clinical assistant professor of occupational therapy education and program director of the post-professional occupational therapy doctoral program at KU School of Health Professions. She has more than 20 years of clinical practice experience working in acute care and outpatient rehabilitation settings. In addition to teaching, her faculty practice includes working as a driving rehabilitation specialist in the KU Driving & Mobility Services Clinic and as one of the faculty directors of the JaySTART Clinic, a free occupational, speech-language and physical therapy clinic at KU Medical Center.

A KU Medical Center alumna, Steen holds specialty practice certifications in both ergonomics and lymphedema, and her research endeavors include clinical assessment of driving abilities in individuals with cognitive impairments and contemporary teaching methodologies in higher education. 

Sufi Mary Thomas

Thomas is a professor of otolaryngology - head and neck surgery, president of Women in Medicine & Science at KU School of Medicine and associate director of basic sciences at KU Cancer Center. She seeks to understand the role of the tumor microenvironment in facilitating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma progression and to develop effective therapeutic interventions to improve patient longevity and quality of life.

Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in India from the University of Mumbai. She then earned a doctorate in applied biology from the University of Mumbai and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

Read about KU winners of the Faculty of the Year award for 2024