The Kansas Health Foundation has awarded more than $740,000 to start public health programs at Kansas University School of Medicine in Wichita, KU officials announced Tuesday.

The school will use a $441,000 grant to establish the Kansas Public Health Leadership Development Institute, which will help train health care workers for public health challenges such as the spread of SARS or the West Nile Virus.

The remaining $301,320 will establish the A.B. “Jack” Davis Jr. Endowed Fund to benefit graduate medical education. The fund will initially be used for educational programs and to bring in national consultants but later may be used to hire a permanent educator to integrate the program into the entire medical school.

Davis was president of the foundation from 1991 to 1996 and a former CEO of Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.

The Kansas Health Foundation, based in Wichita, distributes nearly $20 million each year to organizations supporting public health, children’s health and leadership.