KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Darryl Quarles liked enough of what he saw at the Kansas University Medical Center that he pulled up stakes from Duke University, where he taught and conducted research for 22 years.

Quarles, who arrived in March as director of the Kidney Institute, said the organization at KU, which involves a hospital authority independent from the university, helped convince him to come to Kansas City.

“It took a very special opportunity to get me to leave,” he said. “The key to their success is they’re bridging gaps between clinical groups and the basic science program.”

Quarles is part of a recently recruited team of researchers and administrators who Medical Center leaders say will guide KU into the future.

“I call them all superstars,” said Barbara Atkinson, executive dean of the School of Medicine.

Recent departures

The new recruits aren’t replacing specific researchers who departed KU, but their arrival does help mitigate the departure of several scientists who are funded by the National Institutes of Health in the past couple of years, Atkinson said.

Those departures include:

• Billy Hudson, a kidney researcher, who left for Vanderbilt University in 2002.
• S.K. Dey, a reproductive biology researcher, who also left for Vanderbilt in 2002.
• Michael Welch, a brain expert and former vice chancellor for research, who left in 2002 for Finch University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School.
• Patrice Delafontaine, a heart expert who left last year for Tulane University.

Atkinson said the new recruiting was made possible by increased tuition money, private funds, increased research funds and an uptick in University of Kansas Hospital revenues. The hospital, though separate from the university, contributes to financial packages compiled for recruits because faculty members often serve in clinical roles in the hospital.

She said the School of Medicine had added 35 faculty positions in the past two years. A large number of those have come in the areas of cancer and kidney research, two areas of focus, she said.

“What we’re moving toward, really, is to advance our research and clinical effort together,” Atkinson said. “We want to bring cutting-edge research to the clinical arena.”

New hires

In addition to Quarles, researchers hired in the past year include:

• Roy Jensen, from Vanderbilt, who will lead the Kansas Masonic Cancer Research Institute. The former director of the Kansas Cancer Institute — which was recently renamed — was William Jewell, who stepped down and will return to full-time research and clinical work.
• Curt Hagedorn, from Emory University, who will lead hepatology (study of the liver) and the gastrointestinal department. The position is newly created.
• David Albertini, from Tufts University, a reproductive biology researcher who will fill an endowed professor position established with a gift from the Hall Family Foundation.
• Yvonne Wan, from UCLA, a professor of pharmacology who was recruited to support the Medical Center’s expanding pharmacology program.
• John Grant, from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Children’s Mercy Hospital, to be chair of neurosurgery. Grant will fill a newly created position.
• Quarles replaces Jared Grantham, the former Kidney Institute director who will return to full-time research.

Quarles said the departure of researchers from KU the past few years wasn’t a concern to him as he came to Kansas City.

“I think the important message is there is normal turnover in any academic medical center,” he said. “If I had to characterize this place, the changes we’re seeing and the redefining of how the various components work, this process of change is really a renewal. Healthy programs periodically, to maintain their health, need to go through a process of renewal.”