Tag Archives: Announcement

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 announces two new GME program directors

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Amelia Sorensen, M.D., (left) and Devika Maulik, M.D. (right)

The School of Medicine and the Office of Graduate Medical Education have announced the appointment of two new program directors for the school’s Orthopaedic Surgery Residency program and the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship.

Amelia Sorensen, associate professor of surgery, began serving as the new program director for the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency on Sept. 1. Devika Maulik, an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, will serve as the new Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship director beginning Nov. 1.

Sorensen joined the orthopaedic surgery staff at Truman Medical Centers in 2015 and has represented the School with numerous publications and presentations.  She received her medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis. She remained in St. Louis to complete her orthopaedic surgery residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, then went to the University of California-San Diego to complete her hand and microsurgery fellowship. She has worked nationally and internationally with the National Institutes of Health and has served as a HIVCorps Fellow.

Maulik has been a member of the School of Medicine faculty since 2015, during which time she has received numerous honors and awards from organizations including the National Institutes of Health. She has represented the school nationally and internationally through multiple publications, presentations and invited lectures.

A graduate of Weill Medical College at Cornell University, Maulik completed her residency at the University of California-Los Angeles and moved to Kansas City where she did a fellowship in maternal fetal medicine at UMKC School of Medicine before joining the faculty.

School of Medicine announces changes in Department of Community and Family Medicine

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O'Dell, Michael
Michael O’Dell, M.D.

Change is coming to the UMKC School of Medicine Department of Community and Family Medicine where Michael O’Dell, M.D., chair of the department, has announced his retirement after nearly 40 years in academic medicine.

The School of Medicine announced that R. Stephen Griffith, M.D, has been appointed interim department and academic chair while a search for a permanent chair is completed. The appointment is effective April 12. Griffith previously served nine years as chairman of the department.

“I am pleased to be asked to serve as interim chair during the time of transition from Dr. O’Dell’s leadership until a new permanent chair is named,” Griffith said. “As a previous chair, I know the challenges of the position and look forward to working with the outstanding faculty of the department to prepare for the next chapter in the department’s journey.”

Griffith, Robert Stephen
R. Stephen Griffith, M.D.

Griffith is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine and completed his Family Medicine residency at the University of Arizona. A faculty member in the UMKC Department of Community and Family Medicine and Truman Medical Centers medical staff member since 1984, he was chair of Community and Family Medicine from 2001 until 2010. He has also served as residency program director and as the school’s rural health director.

O’Dell announced his retirement effective July 1. He will take a 10-week personal and educational enrichment break beginning April 12.

During his appointment as chair of Community and Family Medicine starting in 2010, O’Dell furthered the department’s clinical, educational, and scholarly missions. He also significantly expanded the faculty.

Before coming to UMKC, he served on faculty and held leadership positions at the University of Kansas, the University of Texas Medical Branch, the University of Alabama Birmingham’s Huntsville Campus, and the North Mississippi Medical Center.

O’Dell is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Medicine and the University of Kansas Family Medicine residency program. He served on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserves and retired holding the rank of captain. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and other awards during his Naval career and was deployed in the first Gulf War.

UMKC School of Medicine Welcomes New Chair of Pediatrics

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The UMKC School of Medicine has announced that Jeanne M. James, M.D., FAAP, MBA, has been named the school’s new chair of the Department of Pediatrics. James will also serve as pediatrician-in-chief at Children’s Mercy and pediatrics department chair at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

“Dr. James has incredible expertise and experience that will further enhance the academic excellence of Children’s Mercy and I look forward to working with her on behalf of our students” said Mary Anne Jackson, M.D., dean of UMKC School of Medicine.

Most recently, James served as chief of cardiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and held the Leigh Gabrielle Herma Endowed chair for cardiology and served as the medical director of cardiology for the hospital.

Before joining MCW in 2017, James spent more than two decades at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the University of Cincinnati advancing through the academic ranks, ultimately achieving the rank of professor and earning progressive leadership roles. She began at the academic rank of instructor in the Department of Pediatrics, a faculty position accompanying her appointment as a Proctor Scholar in the department and a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Jeffrey Robbins, Ph.D..

Throughout her career in Cincinnati, James continued working with the lab and developed many productive research collaborations. In addition, she served the Heart Institute as Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship program director, medical director of Cardiovascular Genetics and director of the Mouse Echocardiography Core. Among other roles, James served the University of Cincinnati as chair of the Department of Pediatrics Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee and was a member of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Institutional Review Board.

James earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at West Virginia University and went on to the West Virginia School of Medicine. At 20 years of age, she was the youngest member of her class, but was widely recognized not for her age, but for her early achievements and leadership. She completed her pediatrics residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, followed by her fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology, also at Vanderbilt. During this time, she was a research fellow in the Molecular Physiology and Biophysics lab of Michael M. Tamkun, Ph.D.

A year-long, national search to fill this position was co-led by Drs. Shawn St. Peter and Tamorah Lewis and included many representatives from UMKC School of Medicine, Children’s Mercy and KU Hospital.

“I thank all who played a role in helping us fill this important position – expectations were high and the committee delivered,” said Jackson. “No doubt Dr. James will be a leader and a great addition to our faculty.”

In Memoriam: Dr. Louise Arnold

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2-12-2021 Memorial Link
“Remembering Louise Arnold, Ph.D.”

 

One of the School of Medicine’s earliest and long-time faculty members, Louise Arnold, Ph.D., who served as associate dean for medical education and research until her retirement in 2012, died on Dec. 17.

Arnold joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1971 after hearing about the new School of Medicine serendipitously when she, her son Conrad, and her husband, Wilf, came to Kansas City as Wilf was joining the staff at the University of Kansas. Hired as education researcher and ultimately as the associate dean, Arnold spent more than 40 years helping refine the school’s curriculum and touting its key elements to medical educators nationwide.

She received her doctorate in sociology at Cornell University. Arnold and Richardson K. Noback, the UMKC School of Medicine’s founding dean, regularly discussed the many values, beliefs and enthusiasm they shared for their alma mater. As a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell’s Sloan Institute of Hospital Administration, Arnold studied the qualities that were most important for hospitals to provide compassionate care of patients. Thus began her storied career in promoting the role of professionalism and the importance of the development of professional identity for UMKC School of Medicine students.

A respected national and international scholar, Arnold was the founding chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges National Group on Combined Baccalaureate-M.D. Programs. She continued throughout her career to be an active participant at AAMC meetings.

She helped the City University of New York develop a seven-year combined degree medical school. The University of New Mexico established a combined baccalaureate-M.D. program with her help. Arnold encouraged faculty at the University of Washington to use learning communities patterned after UMKC’s docent system to deliver part of their clinical curriculum.

By 2011-2012, more than 60 medi­cal schools had incorporated some form of learning communities similar to those at UMKC. Many are members of the national Learning Communities Institute that Arnold and other leaders infor­mally organized.

In 2012, Arnold received the Ron Arky Award, named for the professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who founded the Learning Communities Institute, for significant contributions to the development in learning communities in medical education.

“Dean Emerita Betty Drees remembers Dr. Arnold as a role model and as a strong woman faculty member and I would agree,” said School of Medicine Dean Mary Anne Jackson, MD. , ’78. “Through the months of the pandemic as Dr. Arnold worked from home, she continued to actively work on projects and curriculum, mentoring junior faculty and connecting with others as she has always done. Having known Dr. Arnold as a student who started here in 1972, I greatly valued the opportunity to work with and learn from her during the last several years. She was truly one of the warmest, most gracious and smartest colleagues and she will be dearly missed.”

School of Medicine leaders will be planning a special event in the coming weeks to celebrate Arnold’s life and contributions to the school.

UMKC announces Dr. Mary Anne Jackson as School of Medicine dean

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Mary Anne Jackson, M.D., has been announced as the next dean of the UMKC School of Medicine, effective May 1, 2020.

Having served as interim dean since July 2018, she now becomes the ninth dean in the school’s nearly 50-year history. A 1978 graduate of UMKC’s innovative six-year medical school program, Jackson is the first alumnus and the third woman to lead the School of Medicine.

Jackson is a pediatric infectious diseases expert, affiliated with Children’s Mercy and internationally known for her research. During the current COVID-19 crisis, she is one of the six physicians statewide advising Missouri Governor Mike Parson. She also continues to be a frequently sourced expert for the media and national publications.

“I am honored to serve as the dean for this medical school, which has been ahead of the curve in educating and mentoring physicians and health professionals for nearly half a century,” Jackson said. “I look forward to helping grow its research enterprise to improve the health of our community and beyond.”

Jackson, a professor of pediatrics, joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1984.

UMKC Chancellor Mauli Agrawal announced Jackson’s appointment and that of Jenny Lungren, Ph.D., as executive vice chancellor, in a letter to the university on April 28. Both had been serving their roles on an interim basis.

“In this challenging time, there is an immediate need for stable, innovative leadership,” Agrawal said. “Drs. Lundgren and Jackson have led with intellect and heart during the pandemic, and I have full confidence that they will continue to capably help us navigate through the uncharted territory ahead.”

Jackson is recognized locally, regionally and nationally as a master clinician and educator on the topic of pediatric infectious diseases. The American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Infectious Diseases Executive Committee honored her with the 2019 Award for Lifetime Contribution in Infectious Diseases Education last October.

She has served on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Red Book Committee on Infectious Diseases, a publication that provides guidance on the diagnosis, treatment, manifestations and epidemiology of more than 200 childhood conditions. She is also a journal reviewer for American Journal of Infection Control, Journal of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal and JAMA Pediatrics, among many other research publications.

Jackson has won numerous awards for her mentorship including the Children’s Mercy Department of Pediatrics Excellence in Mentoring award in 2015, and Golden Apple Mentoring Awards in 2012 for mentoring fellows and in 2013 for mentoring residents. In 2012, she received the Take Wing Award, presented annually at the School of Medicine to an alum who has demonstrated excellence in his or her chosen field and exceeded the expectations of peers in the practice of medicine, academic medicine or research.

In 2017, Jackson was selected to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee. She also serves on the American Heart Association’s Committee on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young, as well as additional national, regional and local committees.

Dr. Inboriboon appointed assistant dean for Graduate Medical Education

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Inboriboon, Pholaphat (Charles)The School of Medicine announced that Charles Inboriboon, M.D., associate professor and associate program director for emergency medicine, has been appointed assistant dean for Graduate Medical Education.

He will work directly with Sara Gardner, M.D., associate dean, to interact with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and non-ACGME programs, residents and fellows. He will be responsible for quality improvement of graduate programs with a specific focus on assessment.

A member of the UMKC faculty since 2012, Inboriboon has a rich background in graduate medical education. He works clinically at both Truman Medical Center Health Sciences District and Children’s Mercy Kansas City. He has been part of the emergency medicine residency leadership team, serving as a GME ombudsman and as director of international emergency medicine programs.

Inboriboon is a Fulbright Scholar Award recipient and led several programs in Thailand during their transition to competency based medical education.

He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, where he completed emergency medicine residency and served as chief resident. He also completed a fellowship in international emergency medicine and earned a master’s degree in public health at the University of Rochester.

SOM grad Adam Algren, M.D., appointed interim chair of Department of Emergency Medicine

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Adam Algren, M.D.

Adam Algren, M.D., a 2001 graduate of the UMKC School of Medicine, has been appointed as interim department and academic chair for Department of Emergency Medicine.

An associate professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics, Algren joined the School of Medicine faculty in 2007. He currently serves as chair of the school’s Council on Curriculum.

Algren completed his emergency medicine residency at Truman Medical Center and the UMKC School of Medicine followed by a year as a chief resident. He completed his fellowship training in medical toxicology at the Emory University/Centers for Disease Control program. During his training, Algren served as a clinical instructor in the Emory Department of Emergency Medicine.

“I am deeply appreciative to be considered for the interim chair position and I look forward to being able to serve the faculty, hospital, and School of Medicine,” Algren said. “I am excited about the opportunity to grow and develop the department. I also look forward to being able to contribute to the School of Medicine expansion.”

Gratton, Matthew
Mattew Gratton, M.D.

Matthew Gratton, M.D., will step down as chair of emergency medicine on December 31. Following a six-week sabbatical, Gratton will assume an enhanced role at Truman Medical Center as associate chief medical officer. The role will include serving as the primary administrative liaison to the new TMC Medical Staff Wellness Committee. In this regard, he will work collaboratively with the UMKC Professionalism and GME Wellness committees.

Gratton was appointed chair of Department of Emergency Medicine in 2007, leading the department to national recognition as a “state-of-the-art, compassionate provider of emergency care in an environment of academic excellence.” In 2018, he was recognized with the Missouri College of Emergency Physicians’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

In Memoriam: Dr. Alan Salkind

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Dr. Alan Salkind

Alan Salkind, M.D., who served nearly 20 years as a member of the UMKC School of Medicine faculty, died on Sept. 3 at Saint Luke’s Hospice House following a short battle with Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.

Dr. Salkind joined the School of Medicine in 1998 as a docent and assistant professor of internal medicine and faculty in infectious diseases at Truman Medical Center. He completed his medical degree at East Tennessee State University College of Medicine and residency at Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York. Following his infectious diseases fellowship and research training in immunology at the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, he was faculty at University of Mississippi where we was engaged in AIDS research and later was the medical director of infectious diseases for the Heartland Health System in St. Joseph, Missouri.

A devoted instructor and mentor, Dr. Salkind was honored with the university’s 2011 Elmer F. Pierson Good Teaching Award. His research work included a landmark article published in JAMA, which revealed that 90% of those with self-reported penicillin allergy are actually penicillin tolerant, continues to be highly cited.

He retired in 2017 as professor emeritus, after serving many key roles at the School of Medicine during his career including as assistant dean of selection from 2002 to 2007, a member of the physician promotion committee, and on the faculty development committee.

Dr. Salkind is survived by his wife, Millie; three daughters, Emily (Norman), Katie and Stephanie; one son, Robert; a brother, Randy; his sister, Sue Feldman (Stuart); and two grandchildren.

No services are planned. Instead of flowers, the family requests all donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation in tribute of Dr. Alan Salkind.

Read the full obituary.

 

Office of Student Affairs welcomes Bridgette Jones, M.D., as assistant academic dean

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Dr. Bridgette Jones

The School of Medicine has announced that Bridgette Jones, M.D., M.S., has joined the Office of Student Affairs in a new role of assistant academic dean.

In this position, Jones will work with students across all six years of the curriculum on matters pertaining to academic affairs. She will maintain regular office hours in both the Years 1 and 2 office on the Volker campus and in  student affairs at the School of Medicine.

“We are excited to welcome Dr. Jones to student affairs where her enthusiasm for student engagement and support will contribute to the enhancement of student services,” said Interim School of Medicine Dean Mary Anne Jackson, M.D.

Jones holds a faculty appointment as an associate professor of pediatrics in the divisions of Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutic Innovation and Allergy/Asthma/Immunology at Children’s Mercy. A clinician scientist with a focus on therapeutics and interventions to improve the lives of children with allergic disease and asthma, she also serves as the associate program director for the Children’s Mercy Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology training program.

She is the inaugural chair of the Faculty and Trainee Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and the medical director of the Office of Equity and Diversity at Children’s Mercy. In that role, she develops and maintains a pipeline of diverse and successful trainees and physicians in medicine to ensure their career development. She has also been a national advocate for diversity and equity for women in medicine.

Jones was recently nominated for the American Medical Association Inspiration Award that recognizes physicians who have contributed to the achievements of women in medicine. She will be honored by the AMA Women Physician Section with the award during the  AMA House of Delegates interim meeting in September during Women in Medicine Month.

Jones is active on a national leadership level as well. She currently serves as chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Drugs, chair of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma Immunology Asthma and Cough Diagnosis and Treatment Committee, and serves as a member of the Food and Drug Administration Pediatric Advisory Committee.

She was appointed by the United States Secretary of Health to serve on the National Institutes of Health Task Force on Research Specific to Pregnant Women and Lactating Women. She has received funding through the National Institutes of Health and other extramural and intramural resources to support her work.

She is married to Rafiq Saad and is the mother of two daughters, Lola and Nora.