KU Medical Center Receives $19 Million National Institutes of Health Grant to Support Multi-University Bioscience Program.
The University of Kansas Medical Center has received a five-year, $19 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, which will continue a Kansas cell and developmental biology research program that has brought $64 million to Kansas since 2001. This award is for the Kansas Institutional Development Award Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE). K-INBRE is a multi-disciplinary program to enhance Kansas’ research capacity through faculty development, retention and infrastructure, as well as inspire undergraduate researchers to pursue careers in biomedical research.
Hall Family Foundation Makes $25 Million Lead Gift for New Health Education Building
A $25 million lead gift from the Hall Family Foundation is a catalyst for the University of Kansas Medical Center to move forward on plans to construct a $75 million health education building in Kansas City, Kansas. The building’s total construction costs will be made possible through a combination of state bonds, university funds and private philanthropy. Last month, the Kansas Legislature approved $25 million in bonds for construction. KU will provide $15 million, and the remaining $10 million will be raised by KU Endowment.
Joe Lutkenhaus, PhD, a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics, and Immunology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is one of the country’s foremost bacterial cell researchers, and in 1991, he gained worldwide attention for his discovery that FtsZ, a protein in all bacterial cells, forms a ring in the middle of a cell when it is preparing to divide. In 2012, he was named one of three winners of the 2012 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize by Columbia University in recognition of his work to understand the intricate, dynamic, and three-dimensional organization of bacterial cells.
MRIGlobal 2014 Citation Award
MRIGlobal has named Robert Mikulak, PhD, U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as the recipient of the 2014 Citation Award at their October 14 Annual Dinner.
MRIGlobal Awarded $63 Million Contract for National Toxicology Program
MRIGlobal has been awarded a new $63 million, 10-year contract from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to provide analytical chemistry services for the National Toxicology Program. The initial eight-month award is for $2.4 million and is a continuation of services MRIGlobal has provided since 1972 to the National Toxicology Program. Under the contract, MRIGlobal will provide chemical procurement, handling, and analytical services in toxicology studies as assigned by the National Toxicology Program. The program examines chemicals that are found in consumer products like ingredients in foods, personal care products, prescription drugs, nutritional supplements, household cleaners, and lawn care products. MRIGlobal has provided continuous support through nine contracts, seven directly with the National Toxicology Program and the Environmental Toxicology Program. Since 1972, MRIGlobal has issued nearly 6,500 technical reports on more than 2,000 study chemicals for the program.
MRIGlobal Awarded Contract for Homeland Defense Research and Analysis Services Program
MRIGlobal is one of 12 contractors of an award from the Homeland Defense and Security Technical Area Tasks Contract. The award is an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract (IDIQ). The contract gives MRIGlobal the opportunity to compete for task orders for expert research, complex analysis, engineering, and services in technical areas of homeland security and defense, a $900 million program. The contract supports technical areas of Homeland Security and Defense; Critical Infrastructure Protection; defense of Weapons of Mass Destruction; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) defense; Biometrics; Medical; Cultural studies; and Alternative Energy programs. MRIGlobal assembled a team of 33 subcontractors, including large businesses, small businesses, universities and research institutes. MRIGlobal has significant experience in supporting large government contracts of this type.
University of Kansas Hospital, Children’s Mercy Hospital and Saint Luke’s Hospital Among Nation’s Best in U.S. News rankings
U.S. News & World Report’s latest lists of best hospitals for 2014-15 includes Kansas City area hospitals. These rankings are based on patient safety, outcomes data, as well as the hospital’s reputation in each specialty program. The University of Kansas Hospital (KU Hospital), Children’s Mercy Hospital (CMH) and Saint Luke’s Hospital (SLH) ranked in the top 50 hospitals nationwide. KU ranked nationally in 12 medical and surgical specialties, including cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology. CMH ranks among the nation’s top pediatric hospitals in nine specialties, including cancer, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and GI surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology. SLH is nationally ranked in three specialties, cardiology and heart surgery, gynecology and urology.
Truman Medical Centers Breaks Ground on Hospital Hill Outpatient Center
On June 27 Truman Medical Centers broke ground on a $29 million Hospital Hill Outpatient Center at the corner of 22nd and Charlotte streets, the first new freestanding building on Hospital Hill since 1998. This facility will consolidate Hospital Hill’s outpatient services and will house ambulatory surgeries, eye clinics and other outpatient services and a diagnostic imaging center. Other services will include physical, speech and occupational therapy; ear, nose and throat; audiology; podiatry; gastroenterology; and urology. The four-story, 90,000-square-foot structure is scheduled for completion by June 2015.
John W. Bluford Medical Pavilion at Truman Medical Centers Unveiled
The pavilion building, at 2301 Charlotte Street is soon to be named The John W. Bluford Medical Pavilion at Truman Medical Centers. This building has been part of the TMC Hospital Hill campus since it opened in 1998. One of Bluford’s first initiatives upon arriving at TMC in early 1999 was to build and open an outpatient adult and women’s health primary care facility, in the medical pavilion.
Truman Medical Centers Announces Charlie Shields as New President and Chief Executive Officer
Charles W. “Charlie” Shields is named Chief Executive Officer of Truman Medical Centers (TMC), succeeding John W. Bluford, III. Shields served as Chief Operating Officer of TMC Lakewood for four years and directed the transformation of the hospital, including the addition of an award-winning birthing center, a new dental coach serving the Independence School District, and added new business lines including, an imaging center, a center for breast cancer, robotic surgery and the new Fairmount Family Medical Care clinic. Prior to joining TMC, Shields worked at Heartland Health in St. Joseph, MO, while at the same time serving in both the Missouri House of Representatives (1991-2002), and as a State Senator (2002-2010). In 2009, Shields was elected President Pro Tem of the Missouri Senate.
KU Partners with PLTW to Support Biomedical Science Education
The University of Kansas joined Project Lead The Way (PLTW) as an affiliate partner to support the growth of PLTW Biomedical Science programs in the state. KU joins nearly 50 other colleges, universities and research institutions that offer teacher training, student recognition opportunities and additional support for PLTW and its network of more than 6,000 schools in the United States. KU will support PLTW Biomedical Science teacher training and program growth.
KU School of Pharmacy Ranks Among Nation’s Best in Residency Placement
The University of Kansas School of Pharmacy ranks 19th among all schools of pharmacy in percentage of students accepted to post-graduation residency positions in 2014, according to a report from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The school ranks 16th nationwide in the number of students matched, with 38 students earning positions in residency programs across the country. In 2014, more than 4,000 students participated in the ASHP residency match program. Among those students, 64 percent successfully matched to programs across the country. KU School of Pharmacy students matched well above the national average.
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson has been named Director of News and Media Relations in the Office of Public Affairs. Barcomb-Peterson has been at Kansas State University since 2006, in positions ranging from campus news coordinator to research news and features coordinator, before becoming director in 2011. Prior to that, she was an editor at the Ottawa Herald and a reporter for the Eudora News. She holds a degree in journalism from the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications
William Picking, PhD, is Foundation Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Director, Kansas Vaccine Center. A microbiologist, Dr. Picking is recognized as a leading authority on virulence and will help start a new center to build on KU’s increasing role in vaccine development. Among the first goals of the Kansas Vaccine Development Center will be developing specific vaccines for Shigella, Salmonella, and Yersinia — taking them from the laboratory to human clinical trials, and eventually to global life-saving applications.
Wendy L. Picking, PhD joins KU as a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry. Wendy Picking’s work is widely recognized, and she has frequently been credited for her commitment to interdisciplinary research. Her research interests will contribute to the Kansas Vaccine Development Center.
Kansas State University Launches Entrepreneurship Program
The Kansas State University’s Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship (CAE), an initiative designed to enhance the entrepreneurial environment at the university and throughout Kansas, has launched a new venture support program called Launch a Business (LAB). Ten high-potential startup ventures have been selected for participation in the inaugural LAB class which runs from July 11 through August 8 with the winning start-up to be selected on August 12 who will receive $50,000.
Chad Jackson is the new Director of the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship at the K-State College of Business Administration
Karen J. L. Burg, PhD, is named Vice President for Research. She succeeds Dr. Ron Trewyn, who will transition to the role of liaison between Kansas State University and the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, the federal laboratory for animal health being built adjacent to campus. Burg has been serving as interim vice provost and dean of the Graduate School at Clemson University since 2011, and was recently named one of seven new American Association for the Advancement of Science-Lemelson Invention Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship. Burg also will be a professor of chemical engineering at Kansas State University. As a bioengineer, her research has centered on absorbable polymers, biofabrication and tissue engineering.
Gregory Kearns, PharmD, PhD, Marion Merrell Dow / Missouri Chair of Pediatric Medical Research Professor of Pharmacology and Pediatrics, UMKC Chief Scientific Officer and Chair, Research Development The Children’s Mercy Hospital was recently selected as an Honorary Fellow to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Dr. Kearns joined the staff at Children’s Mercy in 1996 as the Marion Merrell Dow Endowed Chair in Pediatric Medical Research, and he initiated the pediatric pharmacology program at the hospital. He has compiled extensive research focused in the discipline of pediatric clinical pharmacology and has authored or co-authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications.
Jameson Forster, MD has joined Saint Luke’s Hospital as director of abdominal transplant and hepatobiliary surgery and surgical director of the liver transplant program. Dr. Forster, a nationally recognized hepatobiliary-pancreatic and liver transplant surgeon, performed the first liver transplant in Kansas and helped establish the liver transplant program at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Additionally Dr. Forster led the development of the liver transplant program at the University of Kansas Medical Center and directed the program for the majority of his 25 years there. In his role at Saint Luke’s Hospital, Dr. Forster oversee the growth and development of Saint Luke’s Hospital’s liver transplant program, maintain and advance abdominal organ transplantation, further the growth of hepatobiliary-pancreatic surgery and manage transplant-related research as well as education and outreach programs. In this leadership role, Dr. Forster also will coordinate and participate in the Tumor Board as part of Saint Luke’s unique multi-disciplinary approach to oncology and providing individualized patient care.
Jane N. Lampo is incoming Vice President for Institutional Advancement. She has a successful track record and strategic approach for securing gifts at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. In her new role Lampo will supervise the alumni relations and advancement staff, as well as work closely with the president, Board of Trustees and senior leadership to maximize the success of all university fundraising initiatives and campaigns and promote the University’s mission to improve the well-being of the diverse communities it serves.
Adrian R. Clark is incoming Executive Director of Assessment and Accreditation. He will be responsible for ensuring the University’s achievement of and compliance with the expectations and protocols of regulatory agencies, and accreditation and governing bodies, such as the American Osteopathic Association, Higher Learning Commission and Department of Education.
Bill Turpin joined the Missouri Innovation Center as Chief Executive Officer on June 23, succeeding Jake Halliday who is retiring after leading the center for the past decade. The Center manages the Life Science Business Incubator at Monsanto Place and has supported entrepreneurs and innovation in Mid-Missouri since 1984, working closely with MU and with financial assistance from the Missouri Technology Corporation. Turpin has lived and worked in Silicon Valley since 1990 and has founded six technology startups, one of which pioneered the use of dynamic Web pages and was acquired by Netscape in the mid-1990s. The Missouri Innovation Center is planning for a 40,000-square-foot Phase II expansion of the incubator facility.
After serving as Interim Associate Dean since Sept. 1, 2013, Carolyn Henry, DVM, MS has been named Associate Dean for the Office of Research and Graduate Studies for the College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2002 she became the director of the Tom and Betty Scott Endowed Program in Veterinary Oncology. She was appointed a professor of oncology in both the College of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Medicine in 2008. She serves as the faculty facilitator for the One Health/One Medicine Mizzou Advantage for the MU Office of the Provost, a position she has held since 2010, and as the associate director of research at Ellis Fischel Cancer Center since 2012.
Flow Forward Announces Spinout from Novita
Flow Forward Medical Inc., an early-stage medical device company has launched operations as an independent company at the Venture Accelerator in the Kansas Bioscience Park in Olathe. Flow Forward was initially founded in 2011 as a subsidiary of Novita Therapeutics, LLC. Flow Forward is focusing on developing the AFE System to benefit patients receiving hemodialysis.
KC Biotech Company ImpeDx Diagnostics Gets $3 Million NIH Grant to Treat Sepsis
ImpeDx Diagnostics has been granted $3 million by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ImpeDx is developing a technology that will diagnose sepsis much more rapidly than anything else on the market by detecting pathogens in the body using a direct electrical measurement of the bacteria. The NIH grant will help develop the prototype it needs for clinical testing. Chief Executive Officer Steve O’Connor noted that sepsis, a severe blood infection, kills more people annually than breast and lung cancer combined. Sepsis is treatable if diagnosed quickly, but after 72 hours most sepsis patients will die.
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Paul Schofer has been named CEO of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, succeeding Jane Chu who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to Chair the National Endowment for the Arts. Jane served the Kauffman Center for five years and helped oversee a $413 million campaign to build the Center. Paul Schofer has been the Kauffman Center’s Vice President of Operations since 2012.