Barbara F. Atkinson, M.D.

Barbara F. Atkinson, M.D. leads FHWIM as Acting President; she is a respected pathologist and a member of the esteemed National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.  She is one of only 14 women nationally serving as dean of a medical school, the first woman to lead the KU Medical Center and the only woman to simultaneously hold the positions of medical school dean and executive vice chancellor of a medical center.  As Executive Vice Chancellor, she oversees KU’s Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health with more than 2,610 students and 635 faculty members.

Dr. Atkinson’s academic and professional honors are numerous.  Her M.D. was earned at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA.  She is a Life Trustee and a past president of the American Board of Pathology, and she holds the distinction of being the first woman and the first cytopathologist to be elected as a trustee.  She is a member of the AAMC Committee on Increasing Women’s Leadership in Academic Medicine and council member of the American Society for Investigative Pathology.  She is currently a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners.  She also has held editorial positions on various professional journals and has edited several books in cytopathology and gynecologic pathology.

Barbara Atkinson’s passion for educating students and residents is frequently recognized.  Among her teaching honors, she received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in Clinical Sciences and the Golden Apple Teaching Award for Excellent Science Teaching for Integrated Learning Programs from the Medical College of Pennsylvania.