KCU names Dr. Steven D. Waldman, MD, JD as senior vice provost for strategic academic initiatives

KANSAS CITY, Mo., -- Dr. Steven D. Waldman, MD, JD has joined Kansas City University (KCU) as senior vice provost for strategic academic initiatives. In this role, he will report to KCU Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic, Research, and Student Affairs and Chief Academic Officer Edward R. O’Connor, PhD, MBA, FACHE and be instrumental in helping KCU achieve the goals outlined in its five-year strategic plan, “Redefining Health Science Education.”

Dr. Waldman joins KCU from California Northstate University in Elk Grove, Calif., where he served as both vice president for medical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine.

An anesthesiologist by training and well-known medical educator, Dr. Waldman spent more than 20 years at the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) as the Vice Dean for Strategic Initiatives and served as the Founding Campus Dean of the UMKC - St. Joseph campus. Dr. Waldman holds a bachelor of science in geosciences and doctor of medicine degrees from UMKC, a juris doctorate degree from University of Kansas, and master’s in business administration degree in health care administration from City University in Belleview, Wash.

Dr. Waldman has authored 54 top-selling textbooks on pain management, medical education and global health, as well as published more than 240 peer-reviewed scientific, clinical, research, professionalism and humanities articles. His accomplishments are extensive and his experiences in medical and clinical education, research), publishing, fundraising, mentoring, and project management.

“Dr. Waldman is not only an accomplished physician and educator but also understands the challenges facing higher education and the challenges of achieving health equity and healthier populations across the country,” said O’Connor. “His leadership will enable KCU to not only meet the needs of our current and future student doctors, student dentists and graduate health science students, but also ensure we are creating the research, clinical and academic partnerships necessary to achieve our mission of improving the well-being of the communities we serve.”

About Kansas City University

Kansas City University, founded in 1916, is a fully accredited, private not-for-profit health sciences university with Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, Biosciences and a developing College of Dental Medicine. The College of Osteopathic Medicine is the eighth largest medical school in the U.S., the ninth most impactful medical school for primary care for the nation, the tenth most affordable of private medical colleges, and the leading producer of physicians for the State of Missouri. The College of Osteopathic Medicine has two sites strategically located on the University’s campuses in Kansas City and Joplin, Missouri, to address the growing needs of both urban and rural populations. The University offers multiple graduate degrees; a doctor of osteopathic medicine; a doctor of psychology in clinical psychology; a master of arts in bioethics; a master of science in the biomedical sciences; a master of business administration in partnership with Rockhurst University; a new master of public health in partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center; and plans to seat the first doctor of dental medicine students in 2023.