Ceremony honors first Daugherty women in medicine professor at medical center

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas School of Medicine has officially invested Kimberly Templeton, M.D., KU associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, to the Daugherty Professorship for Women in Medicine and Science. Templeton, the first holder of the new professorship, was formally recognized with an investiture ceremony and reception at 3 p.m. today in the School of Nursing auditorium at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.

The university also honored philanthropist Joy McCann Daugherty and her husband, Robert "Bob" Daugherty Jr., M.D., of Tampa, Fla., for contributing $500,000 to the Kansas University Endowment Association to establish the endowed professorship. The award recognizes female faculty members of the school who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and provided mentoring, encouragement and inspiration to women with professional aspirations in medicine. The professorship is believed to be the only such position in the nation.

Templeton said she was honored to be chosen for the professorship. "I am very excited to receive this award," she said. "It will provide the funding to enable me to continue the work that I started in mentoring women interested in medicine as a career as well as projects dealing with women's musculoskeletal health.ú

The ceremony to recognize Templeton's investiture, one of the highest honors a faculty member can receive, was the first event of its kind at KU. Michael Wall, vice president for medical development at KU Endowment, said he initiated the investiture ceremonies at KU as a way to highlight the significance of endowed chairs and professorships and why they are so important to the university.

"It's a way of formally thanking the donors and connecting them with the recipient of their gift so they really feel a part of what we are doing," Wall said. "It also helps let the Medical Center faculty and staff know that a fellow colleague has achieved something of great significance." Wall said the university will continue to have the ceremonies for all future endowed professorships and chairs.

Templeton was honored before an audience composed of family members and college faculty and staff. University officials included Donald F. Hagen, M.D., executive vice chancellor for the KU Medical Center, and Barbara F. Atkinson, M.D., executive dean of the medical school and vice chancellor for clinical affairs, who presented Templeton a plaque commemorating the investiture.

"Kim Templeton is most deserving of this honor," Atkinson said. "Her selection as the very first Daugherty Professor for Women in Medicine and Science will help to establish the high standards we will be expecting from the faculty members who hold this professorship for many years to come."

Templeton received her medical degree from the University of Missouri in 1988. She completed orthopaedic postdoctoral training at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago and a musculoskeletal oncology fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in 1995. She joined the KU School of Medicine that year and received the Chancellor's Distinguished Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2002.

As an active member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society (RJOS), Templeton serves as a national spokesperson and advocate for women's musculoskeletal health. Last year, Templeton was awarded a fellowship by the RJOS to evaluate curricula at different medical schools with respect to women's musculoskeletal health.

"When I found that medical students were receiving minimal education in the area of orthopaedics," Templeton said, "I formed a committee of educators from medical schools throughout the country. We are working together to write a new core curriculum for teaching medical students about women's musculoskeletal health." She will assume the presidency of RJOS in 2005.

Templeton is actively engaged in many efforts to disseminate information about bone health, including osteoporosis in women. One such effort has been to procure funding for the design, registration fees and staffing of informational booths at the Susan G. Komen Foundation's Race for the Cure in Washington, D.C., and similar events nationwide. Templeton has personally staffed each of the booths, educating participants about women's health issues.

"I start my day working the booth, handing out materials as people pass by," said Templeton. "But before long I am walking through the crowds, talking to as many people as I can about osteoporosis and other women's musculoskeletal health problems." In the past, Templeton has paid for most of the expense of the events herself, but she now will be able to use a portion of the Daugherty professorship funds to subsidize the costs.

Templeton's expertise also has resulted in recent election to active membership in the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA). Her election is especially noteworthy because she is only the second female orthopaedic surgeon to be accepted into the AOA's membership during its 116-year history.

"Kim has quickly garnered the respect of her colleagues, medical students and resident physicians for her steadfast commitment to clinical excellence and orthopaedic education of the medical profession and lay public," Atkinson said. "She has been extremely active in mentoring not only medical students and orthopaedic residents but has set up programs for mentoring female high school students to draw them into medicine as a career choice."

Many respected orthopaedic surgeons recommended Templeton for the professorship. They included Vernon T. Tolo, M.D., professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and immediate past president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. "Kim has accomplished more to advance the role of women in orthopaedics than any other orthopaedist in the United States," he said. "I have seen firsthand the spectacular job Kim has done in this area."

Bob Daugherty, chemistry '56 and medicine '60, said he and Joy chose to support the professorship because they see a need to increase the number of women in academic positions in medicine.

"We felt it was important to endow a gift for women and medicine that would provide resources to further their careers and allow them to reach higher," Daugherty said.

The Daughertys' gift counts toward the $500 million goal of KU First: Invest in Excellence, the largest fund-raising campaign in KU history. KU Endowment is conducting KU First on behalf of the university through 2004 to raise funds for scholarships, fellowships, professorships, capital projects and program support. KU Endowment is an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for KU.