2025: The year in review
With 2025 drawing to a close, it’s time to look back at some of the highlights at KU Medical Center over the past year.
To celebrate the end of this year at the University of Kansas Medical Center, we’ve gathered some news highlights from 2025. Here’s a look back at some milestones, discoveries and inspiring moments from the past year.
With new buildings on the rise, an exciting future for academic and research programs comes into focus.
In May, KU Cancer Center broke ground for a new facility that will bring research and patient care side by side in one complex. The new building will give patients access to groundbreaking clinical trials and therapies developed on site and enable physicians and researchers to collaborate in real time on personalized treatment options and make them available to patients more quickly. Construction on an innovative education center climbed eight stories in downtown Wichita, as the new Wichita Biomedical Campus took shape. When it opens in 2027, the state-of-the-art building will house programs for KU’s schools of medicine and pharmacy, Wichita State University and WSU Tech.
Our experts worked to control a tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas.
In January, two counties in the Kansas City area experienced the largest outbreak of tuberculosis in the United States in decades. Faculty at KU Medical Center worked with state and location health departments to identify those at risk, treat people infected and mitigate the spread of the disease. In November, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced the official end of the outbreak.
We were awarded the largest five-year grant in our history.
A $31 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will facilitate clinical trials for infants and children across 18 sites in rural and underserved areas. The trials focus on environmental influences that may affect child health, such as air pollution, family support, stress, sleep habits and diet. In partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center, KU Medical Center will serve as the data coordinating center for this network.
Advancing rural health remained a priority.
In addition to the grant for pediatric clinical network for rural and underserved areas, KU Medical Center and The University of Kansas Health system launched a new initiative, supported in part by a $12 million grant from the Patterson Family Foundation, to increase access to specialty care in rural communities across Kansas. KU School of Nursing released a report on access to quality maternal care in Kansas, where there is growing maternal care desert, especially in rural areas.
Our schools created new programs to increase the number of graduates for a strained health care workforce.
New partnerships between McPherson College and the schools of Medicine and Nursing will open up pathways for students interested in health care careers. The School of Nursing also announced a new master’s degree direct-entry program that will enable students with bachelor’s degree in other fields to transition more easily to nursing. At KU School of Health Professions, which has created 12 new degree programs over the past decade including a master’s degree in athletic training, a new hybrid physical therapy degree launched to potentially double the number of future graduates.
We earned recognition as a national leader across various research fields.
KU Medical Center was selected as one of just 12 Nutrition Obesity Research Centers in the country and was designated a Rare Disease Center of Excellence by the National Organization for Rare Disorders. KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center has emerged as a leader in work with Down syndrome and dementia. In November, the director of the National Institutes of Health paid a visit to the Kansas City campus and toured faculty labs researching cures and treatments for cancer, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.
Our faculty made discoveries critical to advancing human health.
A pilot study by a nutrition researcher found that creatine supplements have the potential to improve cognition in people with Alzheimer’s disease. KU Cancer Center launched a clinical trial for a treatment manufactured in-house that attacks three targets on cancer cells at once. The medical center became one of three sites investigating the first cardiovascular gene therapy for one of the most severe forms of muscular dystrophy.
Our academic programs were recognized as among nation’s best.
Three graduate programs at KU Medical Center ranked in the top 10 in the country and KU School of Medicine ranked in the top tier for primary care, according to U.S. News and World Report. KU’s bachelor’s degree in nursing ranked in the top 10% of all undergraduate nursing programs.
Our students amazed and inspired us.
This year, we welcomed more than 200 new medical students at the white coat ceremony and 120 new nursing students in a ceremony that also honored alumni award winners. In March, nearly 200 graduating medical students “matched” with residencies in 23 specialties. In May, KU Medical Center awarded more than 850 degrees and certificates across all three of our schools at graduation.
A medical student on the Wichita campus co-authored a study finding significant pricing disparities across Kansas for important cancer screenings. An occupational therapy student developed a program to improve access for people in wheelchairs at a local art museum. And a KU dermatology resident won her third Kansas state fiddle championship!