Symposium celebrates School of Medicine centennial

Speaker, exhibit to honor 100th anniversary

The School of Medicine will celebrate its centennial April 22 with a nationally renowned guest speaker, an exhibit in the Clendening Library and a campuswide celebration.

“ The school owes a debt of gratitude to those courageous medical pioneers who endowed us with a legacy of leadership that continues to guide and inspire us today,” said Barbara Atkinson, executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center and executive dean of the School of Medicine.

The Centennial Symposium features Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine and former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, who will present “American Health Care System for the 21st Century” at 9:30 a.m. in the School of Nursing auditorium.

Following the symposium, students, faculty, the JayDoc mascot and friends of the medical school will celebrate the school’s 100th birthday in the atrium of the School of Nursing from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

“ Centennial: The 100-Year History of the University of Kansas School of Medicine, 1905-2005,” a collection of informational panels depicting milestones in the school’s history and artifacts owned, used or invented by Kansas physicians, will be on display in the Clendening Library.

A Web site to commemorate the centennial also has been created at www.kumc.edu/centennial. Stories on the site recount the difficult and modest beginnings of Kansas’ only medical school.

Since 1905, the KU School of Medicine has graduated 9,300 physicians and has earned an international reputation in biomedical research.