President's Communications

As 2022 comes to an end, we reflect on an amazing year. 

Thanksgiving is a time to count our blessings. I am grateful for all of you who share your talent, your time and your gifts to make KCU a welcoming and engaging health sciences university for our students and the communities we serve. 

As we enter fall, both of our campuses are busy with wide-ranging and far-reaching activities. Score 1 for Health offers an opportunity for our student doctors to practice their clinical skills by providing health screenings for children in grades K-5.

Dear KCU Community, I want to welcome new and returning students to our campuses as we begin this new academic year! With orientation activities in full swing this week for our College of Osteopathic Medicine Class of 2026, it’s been great to see students back in Joplin and Kansas City.

At KCU, we are proud of the many ways our campus communities embrace inclusion. A new and recent effort to expand the reach of our physician training curriculum includes the often-ignored topics such as caring for LGBTQIA+ patients, patients with HIV or substance use disorders and poverty which lead to poor access of care. KCU graduates will be uniquely prepared to improve the well-being of the communities we serve.

As we approach the summer months, Kansas City University wraps up the 2021-2022 academic year with celebration, gratitude and remembrances. Read about all of the activity!

With the spring season upon us and returning from a restful spring break our campuses are abuzz. Over the last two weeks we held an open house for our Center for Medical Education Innovation, the construction of our College of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Center project has accelerated, the annual MO-KAN Osteopathic Conference was held on our campus for the first time, we hosted KC’s Nexus Informatics Conference, and we participated in a groundbreaking by the KC Parks Department for a redesigned intersection that will ultimately expand our campus westward.

Almost 100 years ago, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, known as the “father of Black history,” created the first week-long celebration of African American achievement and accomplishment in 1926.

As we prepare to celebrate the winter holidays with family and friends, what a great way for KCU to close out the year: as the 9th most impactful medical school in primary care in the country! I thank each and every one of you — our faculty, staff, students and alumni — for all you do for our university and to further our mission of “improving the well-being of the communities we serve.”

Following 18 months dominated by the need for ongoing COVID-19 updates and the temporary suspension of my regular monthly newsletter, I’m pleased to return with a fresh, new look and updated format for this communication.

Dear KCU Community, Welcome to the new academic year! With orientation activities in full swing this week for our College of Osteopathic Medicine Class of...

In the United States, colleges of osteopathic medicine have long trained medical students through a philosophy of holistic patient care and a strong commitment to service.