Lindsay Ragsdale, MD, FAAP, FAAHPM, is an associate professor of pediatrics at the UK College of Medicine. For UK HealthCare, she is division chief of pediatric palliative care, program officer for provider experience, and was recently named interim chief medical officer at Kentucky Children’s Hospital (KCH).

In this Q&A, she shares her experience working with her team to build a successful pediatric vaccine clinic at UK, why she feels so connected to Kentucky, and what she cherishes about being a physician and educator.


A monthly newsletter from the UK College of Medicine to keep you updated
on important news, announcements, events, and programs
as they relate to your medical education.

The Department had eight publications listed in PubMed for the month of November 2021. The contributions of our graduate students are highlighted with bold text.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 6, 2021)  Hillary Thompson’s interest in science comes from a personal place — the desire to help others.

“From a young age, I’ve always been interested in science — I like digging into how the body works,” said Thompson, a junior at Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington. “I think what sparked my interest is really trying to help people — helping them get over their sickness.”

The College of Medicine is excited to announce the appointment of the next chair of the department of internal medicine after a comprehensive national search. Darwin L. Conwell, MD, MS, FACG, has accepted the position and will officially join our faculty on April 4, 2022.

Grant writing is a competitive process. Without the proper resources, staff, or expertise, faculty may struggle in gathering key funding that could benefit future research projects, and ultimately, promote innovative health discoveries.

EAST LIVERPOOL — River Valley Organizing is collaborating with researchers from Kent State East Liverpool Campus and the University of Kentucky to offer a citizen science soil sampling toolkit for residents of East Liverpool. The Citizen Science toolkit is now ready for residents in East Liverpool or neighboring communities to use.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 3, 2021)  About one year ago, Lowell ‘Tom’ Coots Jr. was experiencing debilitating tremors and episodes of confusion. Because of his health issues, the former accountant was forced to end his career.

“I had to retire. I had to sell my practice,” he said. “I had 420 clients and there was no way my wife, Linda, could pick up all those clients.”

He didn’t know it at the time, but a medication meant to help a sudden medical condition was actually causing him more harm than good.

Graduates of Healthy WAY and the Community Leadership Institute of Kentucky (CLIK) were honored by the UK Center of Excellence in Rural Health (UK CERH) on National Rural Health Day, November 18, 2021.  Six CLIK graduates and four graduates of Healthy WAY showcased their research projects during a hybrid event with over 40 people attending.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 1, 2021) — Work by a group of researchers at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging was recently published in Genes. The article looks at the use of data mining and machine learning in research.