President's Message
Alumni Board will build on excitement of new school year
The school that shaped us into doctors is in the midst of studying how it also helped make us into leaders.
The team for this project, noted in Dean Steven Kanter’s message in the previous issue of UMKC Medicine, has already interviewed many of you identified as leaders in patient care, teaching, research and administration. I will be greatly interested in learning what those researchers find.
In the meantime, I know all of us, by virtue of our UMKC medical degrees, play a crucial role in leading our patients and our communities to greater health. As physician leaders –– whether in private practice, public service or professional organizations –– we can provide the combination of knowledge, caring and action that adds up to full, healthy living.
For inspiration and example, we need look no further than E. Grey Dimond, the great cardiologist who helped countless patients and founded our medical school. He also followed his other passions, doing much to foster healthier relationships with China –– and to encourage medical students to dream big.
As School of Medicine alumni, we are in the unique position to continue Dr. Dimond’s commitment to professional and public welfare, both through our own work and through mentoring and supporting today’s medical students as they develop their leadership knowledge and skills.
Best wishes,
Lt. Gen. Mark Ediger, M.D. '78, M.P.H.
President, National Board of Alumni & Partners
When Mark Mitchell, M.D., ’81, saw young children struggling with the effects of asthma, he set out to make a difference. Dr. Mitchell spoke at the School of Medicine on environmental health as part of the Dean’s Visiting Professor series. 
Friends of the School of Medicine, a parents’ organization, sponsored a successful welcoming reception in August and will have its annual board meeting Oct. 8 at Diastole. 
The UMKC Physician Leadership Program, begins in April 2017. It is a partnership between the School of Medicine and the Henry W. Bloch School of Management. The application deadline is Feb. 3. 
