91С»Æ³µ

The 91С»Æ³µ is pleased to announce its selection of Tianyan Gao, PhD, as acting chair of the department of molecular and cellular biochemistry.

Dr. Gao has dedicated more than a decade to the UK 91С»Æ³µ as an educator and researcher, mentoring several students, post-docs, and residents over the years while obtaining substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health and other major organizations.

91С»Æ³µ student Gerek Meinhardt will bring home his second bronze medal as part of Team USA in the men's team foil competition at the delayed 2020 Olympics. The team defeated Japan 45-31. Meinhardt previously won a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

 91С»Æ³µ student and Lexington native Lee Kiefer became the first American to win a gold medal in an individual foil event defeating reigning Olympic champion Inna Deriglazova (ROC) 15-13 in Tokyo. She also earned Team USA's first fencing medal of the delayed 2020 Olympics and ninth medal since the game began. 

The 91С»Æ³µ is excited to welcome a new class of medical students across all of its campuses.

On Thursday, July 29, and Friday, July 30, 2021, the college will hold White Coat Ceremonies for new students after going through their first-year orientation. These events mark the official start to our students' journey to a medical degree.

The 91С»Æ³µ is pleased to announce that Luke Bradley, PhD, has accepted the position of acting chair of the department of neuroscience, effective Aug. 1.

Dr. Bradley, a University of Kentucky Chellgren Endowed Professor, has served in the 91С»Æ³µ for nearly 15 years researching the discovery and development of peptide- and protein-based platforms for biotherapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. He also touts more than 20 years of STEM education experience.

Dr. Michael D. Rankin, a 1980 graduate of the 91С»Æ³µ, 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 91С»Æ³µ and the construction of a new health education building.

The 91С»Æ³µ has implemented a system to enhance the medical student experience and ensure optimum professional development, career advising, social connectedness, and wellness during medical school.

In response to the continued growth of the 91С»Æ³µ and the evolving landscape of medical education, the Office of Medical Education is happy to announce a new curriculum leadership structure ahead of the 2021-2022 academic year.

As part of the Office of Graduate Medical Education’s continued expansion of its graduate medical program opportunities, the 91С»Æ³µ and UK HealthCare have established a new residency program to equip medical trainees with the necessary knowledge and experience to best treat Kentucky patients with both medical and psychiatric needs.

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 91С»Æ³µ were asked a series of questions on how they honor Juneteenth.

Q: When did you first become aware of Juneteenth?

Em Neiport, MA, is project manager at the 91С»Æ³µ and staff co-chair of the LGBTQ* Advisory Committee.

Q: What are your roles at the UK 91С»Æ³µ?

A: I’m a project manager in the 91С»Æ³µ. The projects I’ve worked on are so varied and have allowed me to see just how expansive academic medicine really is. It’s fascinating! The best part of my role is having a chance to work with so many amazing people in all areas of the college.

Meriem Bensalem-Owen, MD, and Brian Gold, PhD, might not have ever had the chance to work on projects together. Dr. Bensalem-Owen is a physician who spends much of her time at the patients’ bedside, reviewing video-EEG monitoring studies, or in clinic treating patients with epilepsy, and Dr. Gold is a researcher who studies age-related brain and cognitive changes in the lab.

But thanks to the 91С»Æ³µâ€™s Alliance Research Initiative, they have joined forces to better localize, and ultimately treat, epileptic seizures.

In his 40 years at the 91С»Æ³µ, Michael T. Piascik, PhD, has mentored hundreds of medical students and graduate students while bringing key funding to the college as a researcher to help produce groundbreaking discoveries in pharmacology.

After a long and distinguished career, Dr. Piascik has announced he will retire, effective July 1.

The University of Kentucky’s Center for Health Equity Transformation (CHET) recently announced the recipients of its inaugural Equity Changemaker Award for Graduate Students, Professional Students and Postdoctoral Scholars and Undergraduate Essay Competition.

The 91С»Æ³µâ€™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 91С»Æ³µâ€™s YouTube page.

When Abi Recktenwald graduates from the 91С»Æ³µ, 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.

I am excited to announce that after an extensive national search by a committee of your peers and broad faculty input, Zaki-Udin Hassan, MBBS, MBA, FASA, has officially accepted the role of chair of the department of anesthesiology. This appointment will take effect July 1.

Kristen Fletcher, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics. Her excellence in medical education was recently recognized with a Distinguished Teacher Award during the latest round of Academic Convocation Awards. In the following Q&A, she shares why she loves teaching medical students and how enriching it is to help mold future physicians.

Q: What is your role at the 91С»Æ³µ?

On behalf of the Office of Faculty Affairs and Development, the 91С»Æ³µ is pleased to announce that Sally Mathias, MD, and Sylvia Ofei, MD, MPH, have been selected as fellows for the 2021 Bluegrass Higher Education Consortium Academic Leadership Academy (BHEC-ALA).

Dr. Mathias and Dr. Ofei will join a total of 63 faculty members at the University of Kentucky who have previously participated in this regional academic leadership program.