Tag Archives: Alumni Association

Leading advocate for cancer patients selected as School of Medicine Alumni Award recipient

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Dr. Arif Kamal

Arif Kamal, (M.D. ’05) was recognized as the 2023 UMKC School of Medicine Alumni Award winner during the university’s Alumni Awards ceremony on March 10 at the Plexpod Westport Commons in Kansas City.

The American Cancer Society hired Kamal, the school’s 2019 E. Grey Dimond, M.D., Take Wing Award winner, as its first chief patient officer last December to implement the society’s patient support vision and strategic plan to improve the lives of cancer patients and their families.

Kamal oversees the organization’s cancer support, patient navigation, educational programs, patient lodging solutions, transportation services, contact center and digital patient support offerings. He also handles all aspects of organizational functions that touch cancer patients across 5,000 communities around the globe.

Prior to joining the American Cancer Society, Kamal served for more than 12 years as an oncologist, researcher and innovative leader at Duke University and the Duke Cancer Institute. He is an associate professor of Medicine and Population Health at the Duke University School of Medicine, and recently served as physician quality and outcomes officer at the Duke Cancer Institute.

Kamal is a nationally recognized expert in oncology quality assessment and palliative care. He co-founded Prepped Health, a company that develops innovative technology solutions to educate and engage patients facing a serious illness, such as cancer, and their caregivers. He has several leadership positions within prestigious national professional organizations, has won numerous awards and is a prolific author.

After receiving his medical degree from the UMKC’s six-year combined B.A./M.D. program, he completed his residency and a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic and Duke University. He holds a master’s degree in health science in clinical research from Duke University and a master’s in business administration from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst.

Kamal lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife and two young children.

The UMKC Alumni Awards ceremony is one of the university’s largest events to support student scholarships. In the last decade, the Alumni Awards event has garnered more than $1 million in scholarships and immediate aid for UMKC students.

 

 

Health Sciences campus welcomes new alumni relations director

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Amelia Howard, a member of the academic support staff for UMKC athletics since 2008, has joined the UMKC Health Sciences Campus as alumni relations director serving the schools of medicine, nursing and health studies, and pharmacy.

In this new role, Howard will engage with the alumni of these programs through outreach, events and programming. She’ll work closely with the deans and alumni boards of each school to continue to maintain and create new connections and opportunities for alumni to stay involved with UMKC and their respective schools.

Previously, Howard assisted with oversight of the educational development of 240 student-athletes, overseeing and managing the day-to-day operations of SASSO including a wide array of mentoring and tutoring programs. She also served as the campus SALC advisor and as director of student-athlete development programming, including the scheduling and implementation of speakers, workshops, bystander training and APPLE Team programming.

Howard is a member of the UMKC Staff Council engagement committee. She has also worked with the Flexible Work Arrangement Task Force, the Strategic Planning Committee, the UMKC Mental Health Task Force and the UMKC Green Dot Team. She received the UMKC Staff Council “Living the Values” award in 2019.

Howard has served as assistant director of academic support in the athletics department since 2015. Before that, she was the learning services coordinator for the Student-Athlete Support Services Office (SASSO). She joined the full-time staff in 2011 after working in different capacities for SASSO from 2008-2011 during which she mentored and tutored individual at-risk student-athletes, tracking academic progress on a weekly basis.

Prior to serving as an academic mentor, Howard was an NCAA tutor and proctor for SASSO from 2008-2010. She worked with student-athletes in all levels of English and Language Arts courses as well as proctored the study hall on a weekly basis.

School of Medicine unveils new Student Wellness Wing

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Niloofar Shahmohammadi, School of Medicine wellness program coordinator, shows off the new Wellness Wing for students.

Note to students entering the UMKC School of Medicine’s new fifth-floor Wellness Wing: Studying is off limits.

Niloofar Shahmohammadi is the school’s wellness program coordinator who brought the Wellness Wing to life. She calls the space a special area where students can step away from the rigors of schoolwork for a short while.

“This is our official wellness place where you can take a break, step away and then get back to what you need to do,” Shahmohammadi said.

The School of Medicine officially opened the space on May 9 with a grand opening event that included food and drawings for door prizes.

A massage chair sits discreetly in one corner of the room. Large bean bags on the floor along one wall allow students to stretch out and relax while soft music fills the area. Tables loaded with puzzles, coloring books and arts and crafts, sports equipment that can be checked out, and a small library of books on wellness are just some of what the area offers as an escape from the rigors of study and work.

Two computers loaded with meditation software are available. Students can also step in for a drink of tea, or to check out a Fitbit to count their steps while they’re active.

The area once housed the school’s curriculum office. Now, Shahmohammadi said, it is intentionally designed not to look or feel like any other room in the building.

“You are in the library studying all day. You are in the clinic and you’re working all day,” she said. “This is a little oasis where you can step away in the middle of your day, maybe during your lunch break, maybe in a break between classes, step in here and get rejuvenated.”

The room will be open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to provide students a place to get away after class hours. Student members of the wellness council will fill shifts manning a front desk to help those who want to check out equipment or need help with the meditation software.

Shahmohammadi applauded School of Medicine advancement director, Fred Schlichting, for obtaining support and funding from the school’s alumni association to make the area a reality. The two met about a year ago to talk about student wellness needs. That’s when she shared her ideas for a physical space at the medical school where students can escape the stresses of schoolwork.

“He said, ‘I think we can make that work,’” Shahmohammadi said. “Because he works with the alumni, he was able to allocate some alumni association funds for this project. All of a sudden, in one year, it’s here and we’re very excited.”