KU School of Medicine-Wichita alumni from 2009 to 1976 gathered for an afternoon of activities on Friday, Oct. 23, on the Wichita campus. This year, KU School of Medicine alumni had the option of attending Alumni Day at campuses in Wichita and Kansas City, or virtually.

First on the agenda was a welcome by Andrew Pirotte, M.D., associate dean for special programs and alumni engagement, KU School of Medicine, followed by a State of the School update from Akinlolu Ojo, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, executive dean, KU School of Medicine; Laura Tatpati, M.D., dean, KU School of Medicine-Wichita; and Scott Owings, M.D., dean, KU School of Medicine-Salina.

Ojo gave a history of the medical school, which began in 1905, and shared statistics of growth, Kansas coverage and expanded leadership across the three campuses. He shared that the School of Medicine has awarded 13,912 medical degrees from 1906-2026. Demonstrating the impact on the Kansas physician workforce, Ojo said that KU-trained physicians practice in 82% of Kansas counties and in rural/frontier counties, KU graduates account for 62% of primary care physicians.

Tatpati focused on the expansion of KU School of Medicine-Wichita into the Wichita Biomedical Campus, including discussing the pooling of collective resources, especially the Simulation Center, which will be five times the size of KUSM-Wichita’s current center, and increasing the number of medical students from 205 to a future target of 280. She also touched on new projects like the digital mental health program and educational collaborations, including Heartspring’s neurodevelopmental center.

Owings highlighted a New York Times article recognizing Salina as the smallest city in the country to host a four-year medical program. It graduated its first medical student class in May 2015 and has graduated 94 physicians as of this past May with 100% match rate across 16 different specialties. Salina’s Alumni Day takes place in April to coincide with graduation and end-of-year banquet, but he welcomed all alumni to attend or to stop by anytime.

Seven medical students representing years one to four from the three campuses joined virtually to share with the audience about their typical week experiences, how technology has changed the way they learn, what surprised them most about medical school that they didn’t anticipate as a premed student and other insights to their time at KU School of Medicine.

An in-person presentation was given by KU School of Medicine-Wichita leadership: Colleen Loo-Gross, M.D., associate dean for student affairs; Mark Harrison, M.D., associate dean for undergraduate medical education; Julie Galliart, Ed.D., associate dean for faculty affairs & development; Turi McNamee, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical education; and Tatpati. They discussed issues affecting the undergraduate and graduate education process at KUSM-Wichita.

Attendees were able to take photos with a blow-up Jayhawk and in front of a KU Wichita campus backdrop, enjoy refreshments, and take home goodies provided by KU School of Medicine-Wichita and the KU Alumni Association.

A date for next year’s event is being discussed.

Sarah Coate Johnston, M.D., Class of 1976, captured Alumni Day with a photo in front of a KU Wichita Campus backdrop.