This past year has been a stressful one for all of us ― but none more so than our frontline health care providers. These heroes have been integral to the global response to COVID-19. As you will read in the cover story of this issue of Kansas Medicine +Science, many health care professionals ― particularly those who work in the rewarding, but demanding, field of academic medicine ― were already under stress before the pandemic hit. The pressure of balancing teaching, conducting research and providing clinical care has taken its toll on many academic medicine professionals. While the pandemic has disrupted most of our lives in some way, I am pleased that our outstanding scientists have been able to continue their work in meeting KU Medical Center’s research mission. In this issue, you can read about how some of our researchers are incorporating artificial intelligence into their quests to find cures and treatments for disease. I think you will also be interested in reading about the important work being done by Judy Johnston, a research instructor for the Department of Public Health at the KU School of Medicine in Wichita. Several years ago, she took on the challenge of surveying residents living in rural Kansas counties on what they think they need to live healthy and fulfilling lives. Her assessments are already resulting in better resident services in many of the counties surveyed. As always, we appreciate your feedback, so please drop us an email at kmands@kumc.edu with your thoughts. We look forward to hearing from you!

Robert D. Simari, M.D.
Executive Vice Chancellor
University of Kansas Medical Center