UMKC School of Medicine
Collaboration with compassion
Saint Luke’s is proud to be affiliated with the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC), a Carnegie R1 research institution. R1 is the highest designation of both quality and quantity of research activity, with only 6% of four-year institutions meeting the R1 criteria. UMKC’s research portfolio now exceeds $55 million annually.
About the school of medicine
The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine opened in 1971 as the result of more than a decade of community efforts to establish a medical school in Kansas City, Missouri. Its mission is to Advance the Health of Our Community. Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City is the primary affiliate teaching hospital for the UMKC School of Medicine and also collaborates with UMKC to provide faculty, research, and resources for the next generation of medical professionals.
Residency and fellowships
The School of Medicine is the institutional sponsor for more than 40 residency and fellowship programs accredited by the Accrediting Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) conducted at affiliated hospitals. Today, there are nearly 500 residents and fellows in these programs at Saint Luke’s and other affiliates. Many graduates from these programs serve as physicians in Kansas City and the surrounding regions.
Research emphasis
Saint Luke’s and UMKC collaborate to provide faculty, research, and clinical resources for our graduate students, medical students, and residents. This bench-to-bedside approach provides Saint Luke’s patients with opportunities to receive leading-edge care whenever possible. Saint Luke’s physicians also work as endowed chairs and partner in research efforts between the health system and school.
Learn more about education at Saint Luke’s.
Innovative program
UMKC’s School of Medicine was founded on an innovative medical education system that continues today. It focuses on the following core principles:
- Early and continuous clinical experiences
- Humanities woven throughout the curriculum
- Small group learning communities centered around a physician
- Continuous assessment of student progress
- Emphasis on application of the basic sciences in clinical medicine
The combined degree program allows the school to accept the majority of its students directly out of high school. It develops the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of these students longitudinally over six years and aims to instill the highest standards of medical professionalism, clinical competency, humanism, and altruism during a highly formative period of their lives. The community-based setting has freed the school of fiscal and administrative concerns over the management of hospitals and practice plans.
Saint Luke’s partnership
The school and Saint Luke’s partner to provide faculty, research, and clinical resources for our graduate students, medical students, and residents.
Research emphasis
Throughout the past decade, scholarly research has become a major goal for the university and the region. The School of Medicine now has 22 endowed chairs and professorships—more than any other academic division in the University of Missouri System—and research funding has increased exponentially.
Current total extramural funding in grants and contracts in the school has increased four-fold during the past decade and is now $23 million annually (federal funding represents approximately half of the total).
Research efforts are focused toward impact on community health conditions, especially in areas that link to clinical strength. These efforts are designed to build and utilize large databases that go beyond translational research in general, and to have impact on the health of our community in particular. Saint Luke’s physicians work as endowed chairs and partner in research efforts between the school and the health system.