Donna Sweet, M.D., AAHIVS, MACP, a KU School of Medicine-Wichita faculty member for almost 45 years, is the namesake for a new medical academic society at KU School of Medicine-Wichita. 

"Dr. Donna Sweet has shaped KU School of Medicine-Wichita for more than four decades through extraordinary service as a physician, educator, mentor and advocate,” said Laura Tatpati, M.D., dean of KU School of Medicine-Wichita.

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Elizabeth Snyder, M.D., never ran into a financial emergency while attending KU School of Medicine-Wichita. But she did find herself short on funds while attending Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, as an undergraduate. As Snyder recalls, she needed a calculator she couldn’t afford for classwork, and a teacher helped her access a student emergency fund to buy it.

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More than 150 people attended the annual JayDoc Awards & Fundraising Banquet benefiting JayDoc Community Clinic. The student-run clinic, which opened in 2005 in partnership with Guadalupe Clinic, provides free quality care while giving students the opportunity to gain supervised clinical experience. Find out how much money was raised at the banquet and see the list of dedicated volunteers who received awards.

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With respect and heartfelt sympathy, Dean Laura Tatpati, M.D., shared the news of the passing of Frederic C. Chang, M.D., Department of Surgery professor emeritus and former interim dean of KU School of Medicine-Wichita. He will be remembered for his commitment to education, leadership and service, and for the many student and patient lives he touched throughout his distinguished career. 

Photos courtesy of Stacy Christie, Wichita Biomedical Campus director of special projects, facilities planning

Progress on the Wichita Biomedical Campus is moving quickly with completion scheduled by the end of 2026. Recent progress on the campus includes, as pictured above at left, three condensing units being lifted to the rooftop of the campus by a mobile crane last week. Additionally, as seen in the lower right photo above, drywall has been installed in the fifth-floor anatomy labs. Stay tuned for future updates.

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Each year, KU School of Medicine-Wichita hosts a Research Forum for students, residents and faculty, as well as anyone interested in community health and medical research, to present and discuss research projects and facilitate research collaboration. Register today to attend the 2026 Research Forum, where you can discover and explore local research happening in our community.

KU's 24 hours of giving is from noon to noon April 28-29. What kind of big impact can you and other supporters of KU School of Medicine-Wichita make during these 24 hours? Let’s make it a goal to surpass last year’s generous total of $285,000. In preparation of the KU School of Medicine-Wichita campus expansion in 2027 to the new Wichita Biomedical Campus, there are three major areas of focus for our One Day One KU fundraising efforts: student scholarships, student and resident research, and the Simulation Center. If you have other passions at KU School of Medicine, you can support them, too. Additional information will be available over the next two months on our website, in this newsletter and in personal emails to you.

Anna Trofimoff, fourth-year medical student 

Anna Trofimoff, fourth-year medical student at KU School of Medicine-Wichita, was awarded one of 20 2026 Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Foundation Student Scholarships from STFM to participate in the 2026 STFM Conference on Medical Student Education.

Trofimoff attended the conference Jan. 29-Feb. 1 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and presented her poster, “Where Can I Go

That’s Safe?: Needs Assessment of LGBTQIA+ Individuals in South Central Kansas.”

“One of Anna's areas of passion has been facilitating trauma-informed education for students at KUSM,” said Tessa Rohrberg, M.D., associate professor, Family & Community Medicine, at KU School of Medicine-Wichita. “She desires for fellow students to be equipped with the knowledge and tools to provide empathetic, patient-centered care to those who have experienced trauma. The project she presented at the conference took this idea one step further in which she studied her community and patient access to safe medical care. Her advocacy for this type of education shows her forward-thinking approach to improving patient outcomes and her commitment to holistic care.”

Medical students from KU School of Medicine-Wichita have been working closely with the original Café con Leche founders to help bring this beloved health and resource fair back to the Wichita community. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at Wichita East High School, 2301 E. Douglas Ave. Students and community 

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vendors will have booths offering free health screenings and services, as well as valuable health resources for parents and children. Those interested in volunteering or supporting this effort can contact Alex DeHoet, second-year medical student, at cdehoet@kumc.edu.

Jeff Kennedy portrait by Jaclyn Lippelmann

Jeff Kennedy "was one of the very first in the business community to stand up and support KU School of Medicine-Wichita through 4-Wichita,” said Rick Kellerman, M.D., 4-Wichita Board member and former chair of the Department of Family & Community Medicine. A memorial has been established.

The latest issue of the Kansas Journal of Medicine, published by KU School of Medicine-Wichita and hosted by KU Libraries, was released on Feb. 23. This issue features original research, case reports and a new KJM Journal Club authored by medical students, residents, faculty and staff. In the past year, the journal recorded 122,614 article downloads from its website alone, excluding downloads from National Library of Medicine and PubMed. The website also attracted more than 260,000 unique visitors from 16,520 cities worldwide. Discover impactful local research that is making a difference at both national and global levels.

Sarah Briley

The Wichita Business Journal recognized the 2026 HR Professionals Awards honorees Feb. 12 with a luncheon at Mark Arts. Sarah Briley, human resources business partner for the University of Kansas Medical Center, was among the honorees and talked to the Business Journal about why she likes Wichita and her role in human resources.

From left to right: KU medical students Sam Vermetten, Gentry Shapland, Nina Nganga, Taylor Adwell and Connor Owen.

Medical students in the Family Medicine Interest Group at KU School of Medicine-Wichita made dinner this month for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Wichita. FMIG is a student-led organization that fosters interest in family medicine through education, networking and community service. The group, which hosts outreach events like the annual "Doc for a Day," has been honored multiple times by the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians. 

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

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