Barbara F. Atkinson named executive dean of KU School of Medicine

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Barbara F. Atkinson, professor and chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, today was named executive dean and vice chancellor for clinical affairs of the KU School of Medicine. She will succeed Deborah Powell, who last week accepted a new position as dean of the Medical School at the University of Minnesota. Atkinson's appointment is permanent and takes effect Aug. 1.

The announcement was made by Donald Hagen, executive vice chancellor at the KU Medical Center. The appointment was made now so that momentum would not be lost during a long transition.

"Dr. Powell felt that with several key recruitments under way and the new academic year beginning in early August, we should move forward quickly to appoint a new executive dean," said Hagen. "Dr. Atkinson has a superb background -- as a researcher, department chair and dean -- and is eminently qualified to serve as executive dean of the School of Medicine. She is highly regarded within the profession and within the Medical Center and is committed to making the school a strong partner in KU's overall mission of research, teaching and service to the region."

Atkinson came to the KU Medical Center in January 2000 from the MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine in Philadelphia, where she was dean for three years (1996-99). Before that, she was professor and chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Medical College of Pennsylvania (1987-94) and at Hahnemann (1994-96).

"I'm honored to have this opportunity to help lead the school during the challenging times that lie ahead," said Atkinson. "I look forward to having a close and productive relationship with the hospital at the KU Medical Center and will do everything possible to attract the state and federal funding we need to maintain a vital research program and educate the next generation of physicians for Kansas."

Atkinson began her career at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where she was director of the hospital's cytopathology laboratory from 1978 to 1987. She has edited several books on cytopathology and gynecologic pathology, including "Atlas of Cytopathology" (1992), a revised edition to be published in 2003, and "Atlas of Difficult Diagnosis in Cytopathology" (1998). Cytopathology is the diagnosis of disease based on cellular analysis.

Atkinson is a trustee and past president of the American Board of Pathology and a member of the Association of American Medical Colleges' Committee on Increasing Women's Leadership in Academic Medicine. In 1997, she was elected to membership in the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Atkinson is a native of Minneapolis and has lived in North Dakota, Illinois and Ohio (where her father, Walter Frajola, was a professor of biochemistry and pathology at Ohio State University). She graduated from the College of Wooster in 1964 and Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in 1974. In 1996, she received the Jefferson Medical College Alumni Achievement Award.

In making today's announcement, Hagen paid tribute to Powell, who he said "made significant contributions that have provided stability, strength and vision to the school." Her five-year tenure was the longest since the 1970s. "She instituted programs of professionalism for the students and faculty," he said, including mentoring of students by practicing physicians, emphasizing the need for continuing education, and instilling a sense of responsibility to society. These programs are helping foster lifelong partnerships between the students and practicing physicians, Hagen said, "which I believe will be her greatest legacy."

Powell also recruited 13 department chairs, one institute director and two senior associate deans.

"She has worked tirelessly to enhance the reputation of the School of Medicine," said Hagen. "Under her leadership the school achieved full accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and the graduate medical education programs achieved full institutional accreditation. In the last several years our external research funding has increased over 50 percent."