Tag Archives: Scholarships

Health Sciences Campus welcomes new director of major gifts

Gus Sonnenberg, a 15-year fundraising veteran, has joined the UMKC Foundation as senior director of major gifts for the Health Sciences Campus. He will work specifically with the schools of Nursing and Health Studies, Medicine and Pharmacy.

Sonnenberg will work with the schools’ leadership to identify, cultivate, solicit and steward those who want to make an impact on student’s lives. He said he is making plans to meet with leadership, faculty and donors to understand the schools’ priorities and create a plan to move forward.

He brings with him a strong record of success managing capital campaigns, having secured six- and seven-figure gifts. He has also led continuing education conferences and taught courses on educational foundation fundraising and leadership.

Sonnenberg, a 1997 graduate of the UMKC School of Law, said he understands the role UMKC plays in serving the greater Kansas City area, and is excited about the work that can be done to advance programs and provide financial support for students.

Sonnenberg is a Kansas City native who attended Rockhurst High School and Creighton University on an Army ROTC scholarship before law school. He started his legal career as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Cass and Jackson counties, working on everything from traffic tickets to felony trials. He was recruited to become general counsel for the General American Mutual Holding Company Receivership, where he managed the distribution of $1.2 billion dollars to individuals and companies around the world.

After wrapping up the receivership, Sonnenberg changed careers and became director of development for Rockhurst High School.

He has been active in the Kansas City Bar Association, St. Elizabeth Parish, Cub Scouts, Brookside Soccer, and the Jesuit Schools Network. He and his wife Julie, a physical therapist and founder of Empower Physical Therapy in Prairie Village, have four children and live in Leawood, Kansas.

Missouri medical association awards scholarships to UMKC students

School of Medicine recipients of Missouri State Medical Association scholarships are: (front row, left to right) Rico Beuford, Austin Harris, Adele Souter, Elizabeth Robin, Paige Charboneau. (Back row) Fred Hahn, M.D., MSMA representative, Dylan Schwindt, Robert Johnson, Keaton Altom, Samuel Maples. Not pictured: Madeline Klaesner

The Missouri State Medical Association recently awarded scholarships to 10 students at the UMKC School of Medicine for the 2018-19 school year.

This year’s School of Medicine recipients are Keaton Altom, Rico Beuford, Paige Charboneau, Austin Harris, Robert Johnson, Madeline Klaesner, Samuel Maples, Elizabeth Robin,  Adele Souter and Dylan Schwindt.

Scholarships are given annually to fourth-year medical students who are graduates of a Missouri high school.

Missouri physicians formed the MSMA in 1850 to serve as a voice for the medical profession, physicians and their patients. The organization includes a Medical Student Section that addresses issues important to students of Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathy degree programs.

Eight SOM students receive MSMA scholarships

Missouri State Medical Association scholarships recipients: front row, left to right: Alice Hwang, Eryn Wanyonyi, Julia Clem, Forrest Kent; back row, left to right: Jason Tucker, Nicholas Keeven, Dr. David Wooldridge, School of Medicine alumna and MSMA member, Luke He, Dr. Fred Hahn, MSMA member. Not pictured: Haley Mayenkar

Eight students from the UMKC School of Medicine were recently awarded scholarships for the 2017-18 school year from the Missouri State Medical Association.

This year’s recipients are Julia Clem, Luke He, Alice Hwang, Nicholas Keeven, Forrest Kent, Haley Mayenkar, Jason Tucker and Eryn Wanyonyi.

The organization awards the scholarships annually to fourth-year medical students who are graduates of a Missouri high school.

MSMA was formed in 1850 by Missouri physicians and serves as a voice for the medical profession, physicians and their patients. The organization includes a Medical Student Section to address issues pertaining to students studying to obtain a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathy degree. Three UMKC students, Kartik Sreepada, Muhammed Alikhan and Timothy Chow, served as student section state officers during the 2016-17 school year.

 

School of Medicine joins in campaign celebration

Capital Campaign
UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton is joined by  dignitaries in celebrating an announcement that the university has surpassed it captial campaign goal ahead of schedule.

The School of Medicine took part in a celebration on Oct. 31 announcing the seven-year Campaign for UMKC effort to raise $250 million in capital funding for the University of Missouri-Kansas City has surpassed its initial goal one year ahead of schedule and is continuing to provide additional resources for Kansas City’s university.

Jay Wilson, director of development for the School of Medicine, said that giving for the school’s scholarships and endowments has already eclipsed the $9.5 million goal that is part of the overall campaign.

Dignitaries including Donald L. Cupps, Chairman of the University of Missouri System Board of Curators; Tim Wolfe, president of the UM System; and campaign chairs Bob Regnier and Tom Hyde joined Chancellor Leo E. Morton and UMKC Foundation President Steven P. Norris for the celebratory annoucement at the UMKC Student Union. Hyde announced that the campaign had already bypassed the original $250 million goal by more than $20 million – and would continue for the full seven-year duration.

“The mission was to obtain the resources necessary to grow UMKC into the kind of first-rate urban research university that this community needs, and this community deserves,” Morton said. “A great city needs a great university to call its own. That is what this campaign has been all about.”

Read the full story on the campaign announcement.

Gift makes medical education more affordable for students

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.