A $923,395 gift from the Edward E. Baumhardt Trust to the curators of the University of Missouri will establish a scholarship endowment for the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine as well as the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Baumhardt, a Kansas City-area physician, wanted the trust to provide assistance for medical students in the region.
“Scholarship awards play a vital role in offering affordable medical education,” said Dean Betty Drees, M.D., F.A.C.P., of the UMKC School of Medicine. “This award will allow the school to provide financial assistance to our talented medical students.”
At the UMKC School of Medicine, one or more annual scholarship awards, to be known as the Edward Baumhardt Scholarship, will be given to students enrolled in the medical school.
In addition, the gift will fund a $2,000 award to a medical student or resident physician who writes the best paper on a subject related to schizophrenia. Beginning in 2016, the $2,000 award will be given during even years to a student or resident enrolled at the MU School of Medicine and during odd years to a UMKC medical student or resident.
“At a time when the cost of medical education is rising throughout the U.S., it is wonderful to see this generous gift from Dr. Baumhardt helping to make medical education more affordable for our students,” said Les Hall, M.D., interim dean of the MU School of Medicine.
Both medical schools focus on schizophrenia research in their departments of psychiatry. At UMKC School of Medicine, an interdisciplinary team including Nash Boutros, M.D., chair of the Department of Psychiatry, Timothy Dellenbaugh, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, along with Roger Sommi, Pharm.D., B.C.P.P., F.C.C.P., professor of pharmacy practice and associate professor of psychiatry in the School of Pharmacy, continues to study pharmacological treatment in schizophrenia.
At MU, John Lauriello, M.D., the Chancellor’s Chair of Excellence in Psychiatry and medical director of the Missouri Psychiatric Center, specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia.
