The Lawrence Journal-World has devoted a great deal of attention over the past six months to the proposals of the University of Kansas Medical Center to form a teaching and research affiliation with St. Luke’s Hospital.

People tell me that it is very difficult to understand from the 22 Journal-World editorials on this subject exactly what is so wrong with what has been proposed. What seems to be missing is an understanding of what it takes to have a first-rate academic medical center.

The Journal-World has written very little about the major accomplishments of the KU Medical Center under Executive Vice Chancellor Dr. Barbara Atkinson. She is one of only a handful of physicians in Kansas who have been elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the Academy of Science. Dr. Atkinson’s career exemplifies what is necessary to build a nationally recognized academic medical facility.

A world-renowned cancer pathologist, Dr. Atkinson still gets requests from medical students to “autograph” their “Atlas of Diagnostic Cytopathology” textbook, which she wrote and is used at many medical schools. Under Dr. Atkinson’s leadership, the School of Medicine has created an innovative curriculum that better prepares medical students for today’s careers, recruited 150 new faculty members committed to high-quality care as well as research, and increased National Institutes of Health research funding by nearly 22 percent.

Because of the tireless efforts of Dr. Atkinson and her faculty, KU is No. 1 among all U.S. medical schools for the number of graduates entering family practice residencies.

Instead of reporting on these accomplishments, the LJW noted Dr. Atkinson was a dean at the Pennsylvania MCP/Hahnemann Health Care System some 10 years ago when it experienced serious financial failures. The facts of this case are well documented, and Dr. Atkinson’s efforts to ensure the viability of the MCP/Hahnemann medical school during this crisis are on the public record.

In fact, Dr. Bill Neaves, president of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, has first-hand knowledge about Dr. Atkinson’s role. I asked Dr. Neaves about the LJW’s innuendoes. Here is what he shared:

“Readers of Dolph Simons’ April 7, 2007, Saturday Column learned that Dr. Barbara Atkinson was dean of the MCP/Hahnemann School of Medicine in July 1998 when the school’s owner, the Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation, filed for bankruptcy. Simons charitably says he is not suggesting that Dr. Atkinson was part of the unlawful actions at AHERF, but he draws attention to ‘surprising similarities’ in her role at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, where she currently serves as dean.

“Such innuendo poorly serves readers of the Lawrence Journal-World and unfairly discredits Dr. Atkinson, whose role in the MCP/H crisis was nothing less than heroic. When MCP/H, the largest medical school in the U.S. as measured by student enrollment, faced bankruptcy, Dr. Atkinson and her faculty and students became the unwitting victims of a hospital CEO, Sherif Abdelhak, who was subsequently convicted of misappropriating funds and sentenced to jail.

“From the bankruptcy declaration in July 1998 until the Philadelphia Courts placed MCP/H with Drexel University, the medical students did not know from week to week if classes would be taught. The faculty did not know if they would receive paychecks from month to month. The accreditation of MCP/H, the first medical school in U.S. history to face bankruptcy, was in grave jeopardy throughout the remainder of 1998 and during 1999. Almost no one expressed any hope that the chaotic situation could be salvaged.

“In fact, at no time during that period did the teaching program fall below the high standards of the national accreditation agency, the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME), a joint organization sponsored by the Association of American Medical Schools and the American Medical Association. The faculty rose to the challenge and pulled together during this unprecedented crisis, fulfilling the education, research, and clinical missions of the School.

“The credit for the exemplary manner in which the MCP/H crisis was handled belongs to the school’s dean, Dr. Barbara Atkinson. She was the selfless leader who held the school together and inspired the students and faculty to continue business as usual under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

“I know the facts of the AHERF bankruptcy and the MCP/H crisis. In 1998 and 1999, I served as the co-chairman of the LCME, and the duty of monitoring closely the School’s fulfillment of accreditation standards fell to me. At no time during the crisis did the School fail to meet and exceed those standards, an astounding fact given the turmoil thrust on the School through no fault of its own. That Dr. Atkinson achieved what many observers believed to be impossible is testimony to her exceptional leadership and personal integrity.”

“Selfless leadership” is an apt description of the management style of the Dr. Atkinson I know. Dr. Atkinson and her team are utterly committed to building a top-flight medical center for the people of Kansas and bringing National Cancer Institute designation to our Cancer Center to save Kansans from death and suffering. We are fortunate to have someone with her knowledge and leadership heading the Medical Center and contributing to the vision our region has for a better life for all our citizens.