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Ten years ago, when Amrita Iyengar was pursuing an undergraduate engineering degree, she sought a program that would take her far from her hometown of Maysville, Ky. She landed on the University of California at Berkeley, which, of the schools to which she applied, was the furthest possible distance from home.

Engineering was an exciting career path. It eventually led Iyengar to building cars at Tesla and General Motors, followed by a brief stint in nanomanufacturing research at the University of Texas-Austin.

The University of Kentucky football team has invigorated the campus community with one of the best seasons in the program’s recent history. In October, the Wildcats earned an exhilarating win over Florida, as well as a 21-point victory over 2019 national champion LSU.   

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine has received the 2021 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

Dr. Michael D. Rankin, a 1980 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, was honored today for his monumental $22 million gift commitment that will transform medical education in Kentucky.

Rankin’s gift is the second-largest single gift in university history and will support scholarships in the College of Medicine and the construction of a new health education building.

When his parents drove from their home in rural Lincoln County to drop Michael Rankin off at Haggin Hall on the University of Kentucky campus in August 1967, it was one of the biggest places he had ever seen.

His high school math teacher had encouraged his love for math and science and in 1971 he received an engineering degree. His dream was to go on to medical school, but he feared achieving this goal was out of reach. Today, he wants to make sure that young men and women from rural areas who aspire to be physicians have the support they need to make their dreams come true.

Juneteenth is observed on June 19, 2021, to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S. On this day, enslaved African-Americans in Galveston, Texas, were notified they had actually been freed almost 2.5 years earlier.

Members of the College of Medicine were asked a series of questions on how they honor Juneteenth.

Q: When did you first become aware of Juneteenth?

Cheavar Blair, PhD, a 2017 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, is now a postdoc at the University of California-Santa Barbara. 

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s 58th commencement ceremony will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

This will be a ticketed event and has a strict capacity limit, so guests will be unable to attend in-person. However, you may view the ceremony virtually through our YouTube livestream.

Click here to watch the ceremony on the UK College of Medicine’s YouTube page.

When Abi Recktenwald graduates from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, she will officially start a career she never imagined possible thanks to a combination of hard work, skill, and a strong faculty support system.

Going into her third year, Recktenwald had a wide range of interests across medicine and surgery. However, on her pediatric rotation early that year, she encountered a child who needed a complex plastic surgery procedure to cover a skin defect. It was through the experience she realized plastic surgery was her calling.

The UK College of Medicine chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is commemorating Black History Month by curating educational information about the Black community's impact in medicine.

This week, SNMA conducted a Q&A with Black physician-leaders who either currently work or have worked at the UK College of Medicine to learn their perspectives on medicine and how we can continue to improve.

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine is committed to enhancing its medical school curriculum and ensuring students are introduced to a variety of important topics as they pursue their medical education. It is with these goals in mind that the UK College of Medicine is excited to announce a new curricular initiative.

Ima Ebong, MD, MS, assistant professor in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Department of Neurology, was recently named one of “1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America” in a list published by Cell Mentor, an online resource for researchers.

The list, compiled by The Community of Scholars, recognizes the significant contributions Black scientists have made in research.

Veterans Day is a time to recognize individuals who have made the honorable decision to protect our country's freedom through military service. Below, we are honoring four of our of our very own faculty members and learners who have served our country, are serving our country, or are committed to serving our country in the most selfless of ways - through the military and in health care. 

Matthew Bush, MD, PhD, MBA, is an experienced clinician, academic leader, and researcher. While he has been directly involved in health care and academia throughout his career, he credits the progress of his research career to a program he completed at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine while serving as a faculty member.

The UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, a world leader in Alzheimer's research and community outreach, will hold its 10th annual Markesbery Symposium. There will be a community session and scientific session, each held via Zoom.

Community Session
Keynote:
Maria Carrillo, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, National Alzheimer's Association

Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020
9:55 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Register Here
 

Henrietta Lacks’s “HeLa” cells continue to influence scientific discovery even after her death from cancer in 1951. These cells have been used to study cancer growth, learn more about viruses, and study drug effects on the body. They even helped develop the polio vaccine.

The UK College of Medicine’s Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) will host its sixth annual Visiting Professor Program, also known as “WIMS Day,” this fall as a virtual program. The event will serve as an opportunity for faculty, staff, and learners to network, develop their career skills, and learn about the strides women have made in medicine and science.

Meredith Landorf, MD, recently began a leadership role as assistant dean for the University of Kentucky College of Medicine-Northern Kentucky Campus. Through this position she will oversee and build upon the third- and fourth-year clerkships while promoting the regional campus’s mission of educating physicians in Kentucky for Kentucky. Dr. Landorf is also a practicing physician in Edgewood, Ky.

The Dean's CORE Scholarship Fund helps ensure our medical students can follow their passion without the added burden of a higher debt load upon graduation. The University of Kentucky College of Medicine will dedicate One Day for UK, the University of Kentucky's annual 24-hour day of giving, to supporting these important scholarships on Sept. 16. To learn more about how you can help this year, click here.

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is excited to announce the University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s selection as an inaugural member of the National Center for Pre-Faculty Development, providing a significant opportunity to enrich the education experience and ensure the promotion of career development for all individuals, including those underrepresented within academia.