University of Kansas Medical Center

The University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) is the health-sciences campus of the University of Kansas, occupying roughly 41 acres at 39th Street and Rainbow Boulevard in the Rosedale section of Kansas City, Kansas, in Wyandotte County.¹ It houses the KU School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Health Professions, and shares the campus with The University of Kansas Health System — a separate, independent organization since 1998.¹² Together they form the Kansas side counterpart to Kansas City, Missouri’s Hospital Hill medical district.

History

Simeon Bell, Rosedale, and the 1905 founding

The University of Kansas had offered a “Preparatory Medical Course” from 1880, but without clinical training.³ The Rosedale campus originates with Dr. Simeon Bishop Bell, a physician and real-estate investor who offered KU land and money for a hospital and medical school in memory of his wife, Eleanor Taylor Bell; the offer sat unaccepted for years amid opposition from Topeka interests and the state medical community.⁴

A four-year School of Medicine was created in 1905 by merging KU’s preparatory program with proprietary medical colleges in Kansas City, and the school officially opened on September 6, 1905, teaching at Bell Memorial Hospital in Rosedale.³⁴ The first Eleanor Taylor Bell Memorial Hospital opened in Rosedale in 1906 on the hill locally called “Goat Hill,” roughly a mile north of the present campus.⁴⁵ For a period the basic sciences were taught in Lawrence while clinical instruction happened in Rosedale.⁴

The 1924 move and the modern campus

The medical school relocated to its current site at 39th Street and Rainbow Boulevard in 1924 after long disagreement over where it belonged.³ Murphy Hall (1924) remains the oldest building on the Kansas City campus.¹ Federal New Deal construction and the postwar deanship of Franklin D. Murphy expanded the plant and roughly doubled medical-school graduations through the 1950s and 1960s.³ The campus took the name University of Kansas Medical Center in 1947.⁶

Clinical campuses followed in Wichita (1971) and Salina (2011), extending the state’s only allopathic medical school across Kansas.³ Later construction included a Life Sciences Innovation Center (2007) and the 170,000-square-foot Health Education Building (2017), the campus’s newest.³¹

The 1998 split: academic center and hospital authority

In 1998 the Kansas Legislature separated the teaching hospital from the academic medical center. K.S.A. 76-3302 — enacted as L. 1998, ch. 12, § 2 — records the legislature’s finding that the needs of Kansas citizens and of the medical center would be best served if the hospital were “transferred to and operated by an independent public authority” charged with running a teaching hospital, providing patient care, and hosting biomedical research.² The resulting University of Kansas Hospital Authority receives no state appropriations and is no longer part of the School of Medicine.⁵

That structure still governs the campus: KUMC is a state academic institution; the hospital is an independent authority. In 2017 the hospital merged with University of Kansas Physicians to form The University of Kansas Health System.⁵⁷

Cancer center designation

The University of Kansas Cancer Center was established in 2002 and won National Cancer Institute designation in 2012.⁶ On July 7, 2022, NCI elevated it to Comprehensive Cancer Center status — the agency’s highest level — with a five-year, $13.8 million grant and an “outstanding” review rating, making it one of 53 comprehensive centers nationally at the time.⁸ KU Medical Center describes the pursuit as beginning around 2007 and reports an estimated $2.5 billion regional economic impact from the effort since then.⁸ A new cancer center building broke ground in 2025 with a $100 million lead gift from the Sunderland Foundation.⁵

Size and research

Fall 2024 figures published by KU Medical Center: 3,883 students across the three schools (School of Medicine 2,522; School of Health Professions 800; School of Nursing 544; interdisciplinary 17) and 5,665 total employees, including 1,571 full-time faculty.¹ The Kansas City campus comprises 41 acres, 46 buildings, and 2.4 million square feet.¹ NIH research funding was $97.8 million in FY 2024, following $103.0 million in FY 2023.¹

The affiliated health system reports more than 18,000 employees, 993 staffed beds on the main campus, and roughly 1.75 million outpatient visits and 62,579 inpatient admissions in 2024, operating a Level I trauma center.⁷ It is the region’s principal academic referral hospital on the Kansas side, with system campuses added in Topeka, Great Bend, and Lawrence, plus Olathe Health (2023) and Liberty Hospital (2024).⁷⁵

Reported clinical firsts include the hospital’s first liver transplant on February 27, 1990, and a transplant program that passed 5,000 transplants by 2021.⁶⁷

Sources

KU Medical Center — “KU Medical Center Fast Facts.” — asserts: fall 2024 enrollment 3,883 with school breakdown; 5,665 employees; 1,571 full-time faculty; 41 acres, 46 buildings, 2.4 million sq ft; Murphy Hall (1924) oldest, Health Education Building (2017) newest; NIH funding FY2020–FY2024. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Kansas Statutes Annotated 76-3302, “Findings; purpose” (L. 1998, ch. 12, § 2) — asserts: legislative finding that the University of Kansas hospital be transferred to and operated by an independent public authority for teaching, patient care, and research. ↩ ↩²
KU School of Medicine — “History of the School of Medicine.” — asserts: 1880 preparatory course; school opened Sept. 6, 1905 at Bell Memorial Hospital in Rosedale; 1924 move to 39th and Rainbow; Murphy deanship and postwar expansion; Wichita 1971 and Salina 2011 campuses; 2007 Life Sciences Innovation Center; 2017 Health Education Building. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
KU History (University of Kansas) — “The Creation of KU Med.” — asserts: Simeon Bishop Bell’s land-and-money offer in memory of Eleanor Taylor Bell; years of opposition; 1905 acceptance and construction; Bell Memorial Hospital opened on “Goat Hill” in Rosedale in 1906 about a mile north of the present campus; basic sciences in Lawrence, clinical work in Rosedale. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
The University of Kansas Health System — “Our History.” — asserts: Bell land donation 1905; hospital founded 1906; move near the present main campus around 1924; 1998 independence with no state funding and separation from the School of Medicine; 2017 merger with KU Physicians; Olathe Health 2023; Liberty Hospital 2024; 2025 cancer center groundbreaking with $100 million Sunderland Foundation lead gift. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Wikipedia — “University of Kansas Medical Center.” — asserts: 1947 renaming to University of Kansas Medical Center; cancer center established 2002 and NCI-designated 2012; first liver transplant February 27, 1990; Wichita and Salina campuses. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Wikipedia — “University of Kansas Health System.” — asserts: 2017 formation from hospital plus KU Physicians; 1998 independence; 993 staffed beds; 18,000+ employees; 140 locations; 2024 volumes (1.75 million outpatient visits, 62,579 admissions); Level I trauma center; Topeka, Great Bend, Lawrence campuses; 5,000 transplants by 2021. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
KU Medical Center news — “The University of Kansas Cancer Center earns National Cancer Institute’s most prestigious status — Comprehensive” (July 7, 2022) — asserts: comprehensive designation July 7, 2022; one of 53 comprehensive centers; $13.8 million five-year grant and “outstanding” rating; pursuit begun around 2007; estimated $2.5 billion regional economic impact. ↩ ↩²