THE PULSE
UMKC’s Healthcare Delivery and Innovation Building Taking Shape on Health Sciences Campus
Healthcare Delivery and Innovation Building construction site on Sept. 17, 2025.
CONSTRUCTION ON the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Healthcare Delivery and Innovation Building (HDIB) has made significant progress since last fall, when the university held an event celebrating the start of construction. Multiple levels of metal and concrete now rise above what once was a surface parking lot at the corner of 25th and Charlotte streets. The 160,000-square-foot building should be ready for occupancy in late 2026, and will usher UMKC into a new era for students, faculty and the greater Kansas City community with spaces geared toward research and discovery.
“This building brings together the right ingredients: state-of-the-art structure, the right proximities and the right programs,” said Alexander Norbash (B.A. ’85/M.D. ’86), dean of the School of Medicine. “The building is going to allow us to leapfrog where we would have otherwise been, where discovery and innovation are concerned."
The university hopes having access to new technologies on such a forward-thinking campus will attract top-tier faculty and students who can all contribute to future innovations.
“A building like this is going to allow us to tap into the creativity of medical students from the moment they enter medical school,” said Norbash.
Nelson Sabates (B.A. ’83/M.D. ’86) with his School of Medicine classmate, Dean Alexander Norbash (B.A. ’85/M.D. ’86), at the HDIB groundbreaking ceremony in September 2024.
At $145 million, the HDIB is UMKC’s largest capital project to date, and will be home to dental and medical programs, including cutting-edge simulation labs, as well as the Health Equity Institute, biomedical engineering and the Data Science and Analytics Innovation Center. UMKC received state and federal funding for the project, but private donations have also made a significant impact.
One of Norbash’s classmates, Nelson Sabates (B.A. ’83/M.D. ’86), along with his family, donated $3 million to the project, which represents the largest alumni donation the School of Medicine has received. Sabates has a long history with UMKC as an alumnus and former chair of the Department of Ophthalmology.
“I wanted to give back to the school that gave me my start,” said Sabates. “I think every alumnus should think about donating to the school. We’ve got not only this building project, but others coming in the future. Alumni support is key to advancing healthcare education in the Health Sciences District.”
Alumni fundraising efforts are ongoing.
“Our goal, between alumni and friends of the School of Medicine and School of Dentistry, was to raise $10 million in support of the building,” said Matt Astleford, senior managing director of development for the School of Medicine. “We have less than $5 million to go. This is a meaningful and lasting way for alumni to make their mark on this state-of-the-art academic space.”
Norbash envisions a long-term impact that will make donors proud.
“It's going to create jobs and it's going to kick-start the economy of the Health Sciences District,” Norbash said. “If you were to come here in another 15 or 20 years, you'll probably see a lot of the fruit of that labor. A lot of opportunities are going to spring up because of this innovation and the creativity that's going to happen in this nucleus.”
If you are interested in learning more about HDIB donation opportunities for the School of Medicine, contact Matt Astleford at mastleford@umkcfoundation.org.
Construction workers lay down concrete on the top floor of the Healthcare Delivery and Innovation Building.
Diastole Available for Events
View from the stairwell inside Diastole Scholars' Center
DIASTOLE SCHOLARS’ CENTER is ready to host its next UMKC gathering. All UMKC faculty, departments, schools and any Health Sciences Campus partners can use Diastole at no cost. Qualified nonprofits also may use the space for a fee.
Diastole, located at the corner of 25th and Holmes streets, was donated to UMKC by one of the School of Medicine’s founders, E. Grey Dimond, M.D., and his wife, Mary Clark Dimond. They brought their vision to life in 1976 and called “the house that looked as if it should be in California” their home for several years. After Mary’s passing in 1983, E. Grey decided to dedicate the space to others and create a place “with no agenda” and “no programs,” where people could “gather and plan and do.”
With inspiration from around the world, Dimond and his team spent years remodeling the house. It was dedicated to UMKC in 1994. During his remarks at the dedication, Dimond shared the home’s intent.
“It was built to be a happy, provocative, stimulating meeting place — a place of goodwill and shared endeavor. Hopefully, it will never be a neutral building, but one that encourages people to say, 'Why not?'”
Diastole is open Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. For more information, or to book an event, go to diastole.org.
UMKC Physician Assistant Program Expands to Columbia
THE UMKC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE’S physician assistant program is expanding to a second location in Columbia, Missouri, in January 2026.
The UMKC Master of Medical Science Physician Assistant Program is a seven-semester program with one of the smaller cohort sizes in the country at 20 students.
“It’s desirable to have that (size),” said Eric Johnson, program director. “We knew that if we were going to (grow), we’d still want the feel of a small cohort.”
A satellite location offered a way to expand the program without sacrificing cohort size.
“The University of Missouri approached us about opening a program, and we saw an opportunity to collaborate,”
Johnson said. “It allows both of our medical schools to share resources, support students and address workforce shortages, especially in rural areas surrounding Columbia.”
The Columbia site will enroll 10 students this January, growing to 20 by 2028. Students and faculty will be housed at MU’s School of Medicine, which is also where students will receive coursework and where faculty offices will be. Faculty on both campuses will teach all students in the collective cohort, with some lessons occurring virtually. UMKC has hired a professor for the Columbia location, with plans to hire four new faculty members in total. The accreditation body met at the end of June and approved the expansion with no citations.
“We’re grateful for the collaboration,” Johnson said. “This is a big step forward for the program and the communities we serve.”
UMKC Receives Top Research Designation
KC Roo and Chancellor Mauli Agrawal "Roo Up" at a celebration announcing UMKC's Carnegie R1 designation.
UMKC REACHED A HISTORIC milestone in February, becoming the first university in Kansas City to be recognized as a Carnegie Research 1 institution. The prestigious designation reflects years of dedication to research, innovation and community collaboration.
The R1 achievement comes five years ahead of the 2030 goal set in the university’s strategic plan. The elite status represents a transformative era for UMKC, Kansas City and the broader region. Only 187 four-year universities out of more than 2,800 are R1, according to Carnegie.
“This milestone is a huge victory for all of the Kansas City area and its top research university,” said UMKC Chancellor Mauli Agrawal. “We’ve seen a steady and rapid rise in the excellence of UMKC, thanks to the incredible hard work and drive of our faculty, students, staff and community partners.”
To be a Carnegie R1 university, an institution must spend at least $50 million on research and development and award at least 70 research doctorates on average in a single year. UMKC spent $55 million and awarded more than 130 doctorates.
Advancing healthcare is one of UMKC’s key research areas. Other areas include defense, electromagnetic radiation and energy, advanced and critical materials, unmanned platforms, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data science and digital humanities.
Faculty Researchers Receive Largest NIH Grant in UMKC History to Study Maternal Heart Disease
THE UNITED STATES has the highest maternal mortality rate of any industrialized nation — and is the only country seeing that rate continue to increase. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of these deaths. A School of Medicine researcher is on a mission to figure out how to solve this problem, and his team has received the largest NIH award in UMKC history to fund their investigation.
John Spertus, M.D., MPH, is the Daniel J. Lauer/Missouri Endowed Chair and Professor in Metabolic and Vascular Disease Research at UMKC. He’s also the clinical director of outcomes research at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heath Institute and the founder and director of the UMKC Healthcare Institute for Innovations in Quality (UMKC HI-IQ), which was founded in 2017 to identify strategies to improve the value and equity of healthcare in Kansas City.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute awarded Spertus and UMKC HI-IQ $8.3 million for the study they’re calling HOPE for Mom and Baby, which stands for Heart Outcomes in Pregnancy Expectations. For four years, the study will monitor the care and outcomes of 1,000 pregnant women with cardiovascular disease from 36 sites nationwide.
HOPE marks the first U.S. study targeted at better understanding pregnant people with heart disease and the patient characteristics, treatment and organization of healthcare delivery that most influence their outcomes. The goal is to use the study’s findings to influence standardized care protocols and, ultimately, combat the country’s tragically high rate of maternal death and illness.
“We anticipate generating two key contributions: patient level prediction models of adverse clinical outcomes and defining the structures of cardio-obstetrics care independently associated with better outcomes,” Spertus said. “Both lay the foundation for improving care for these high-risk patients.”
Spertus is serving as principal investigator on the project, alongside Anna Grodzinsky (BLA ’08/M.D. ’09, M.S. ’15), associate professor of internal medicine at UMKC and cardiologist at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, and Karen Florio, D.O., MPH, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at UMKC.
Exploring Safer Therapies for Premature Babies
Paula Monaghan-Nichols, Ph.D., works with medical student Emaan Arshad inside Monaghan-Nichols' lab at the School of Medicine.
EVERY BREATH IS A BATTLE for some newborns, and one UMKC researcher is working to give them a better chance at life. Paula Monaghan-Nichols, Ph.D., professor and assistant dean of research at the School of Medicine, is advancing genetic research to improve outcomes for premature babies facing life-threatening challenges.
“I have always been fascinated by how the brain functions, and more importantly, how our prenatal and postnatal mechanism orchestrated to build such a complex structure from a single cell,” Monaghan-Nichols said.
Babies born before 28 weeks often have underdeveloped lungs, and one of the most serious complications is bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a chronic lung disease that causes tissue damage in the tiny air sacs of the lungs. It affects nearly 70% of babies born before 28 weeks.To reduce these risks, pregnant women at risk of preterm birth are commonly treated with glucocorticoids, a steroid hormone that accelerates fetal lung development. However, repeated steroid exposure can cause long-term neurological and metabolic side effects.
Monaghan-Nichols is exploring the use of ciclesonide, an inhaled steroid currently used to treat asthma, as a safer alternative. Unlike traditional steroids, ciclesonide remains inactive until it is metabolized, reducing harmful side effects.
“My ultimate goal is to contribute to therapeutic approaches that address root causes, potentially preventing these conditions from developing in the first place,” Monaghan-Nichols said.
Since joining UMKC in 2016, Monaghan-Nichols has partnered with institutions like Children’s Mercy to translate research into clinical care. Beyond her research, Monaghan-Nichols mentors students in her lab. She hopes her work will encourage a deeper appreciation for how genetic research can transform human health. Advancing healthcare is one of UMKC’s key research areas.
“What Did You Say?”: Working to Solve Operating Room Miscommunication
Gary Sutkin, M.D., is working on research aimed at improving surgery outcomes by changing the sound environment inside operating rooms.
IN UNIVERSITY HEALTH operating rooms, sound is under the microscope, thanks to two UMKC professors and their research team. This project, backed by a $1.9 million, five-year research grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, seeks to improve patient outcomes from surgery, all by changing the sound environment in the operating room.
The grant is the result of a collaboration between Gary Sutkin, M.D., professor and associate dean of women's health, and Paul Rudy, DMA, a professor at the Conservatory.
The main goal?
“Make it easier for people to work in the operating room,” Sutkin said.
The main challenge? Noise.
“You really have to be very careful about how you communicate in the operating room,” Sutkin said. “One of the causes of miscommunication is just that the operating room is super loud. There are loud machines that are at the noise level of dishwashers, garbage disposals or power mowers. We have to talk over those machines and there may be three or four conversations going on at the same time.”
All this noise contributes to the sound environment, which is where Rudy’s expertise lies. He’s been studying sound for more than 20 years.
“We live in a really noisy world,” Rudy said. “Sound is a cognitive drain because our brains are always processing it, even while we’re asleep.”
Rudy likes to compare a surgical team to an orchestra performance. Both settings require discipline and focus, but within different areas. It’s second nature for musicians to operate in ways that don’t add any extra noise to their environments. That level of awareness is what makes Rudy instrumental to this research project.
“Until Gary brought me into this project, I’d never imagined using my sound research and composer skills in this kind of way,” Rudy said. “It’s a unique experience for me, and it’s really pushed me to think differently.”
One of the first steps to improving communication in the operating room is changing the sound environment. Noisy machines may stand between a surgeon and the nurse or anesthesiologist, making it harder to hear each other. Line of sight, or lack thereof, can also hinder communication.
“We can’t see each other between all the machines,” Sutkin said. “If you do have a line of sight, even though you’re wearing a mask, you can still tell by body language if someone’s listening.”
Sutkin, Rudy and their team have identified these challenges by observing and measuring dozens of surgeries and documenting each time there is a communication breakdown.
“Miscommunication is very much like speeding when you drive,” Sutkin said. “It happens all the time, and patients do just fine. We speed all the time, and we don’t get into accidents. And yet, we know that speeding is the number one cause of driving accidents. Similarly, miscommunication is fine for the patient until it isn't, until there’s a crash.”
By recording all these observations, they can better understand what happens when a patient has a poor outcome because of a miscommunication.
“I observe these surgeries through the lens of minimizing unnecessary sounds,” Rudy said. “Something such as crumpling up a piece of plastic and throwing it in the trash at the wrong time can interrupt an important conversation and prevent anything else from being heard.”
With five years of funding secured, this team has the breadth to experiment with dozens of different ideas on how to “solve” these miscommunications.
Some of these solutions are as simple as turning off extraneous machines or creating new check-in protocols amongst a surgical team. In the long-term, Rudy envisions new standards for the manufacturing of hospital equipment that both eliminate noise and create a more harmonious atmosphere through an improved sound environment.
While right now the work is centered around trying these solutions at University Health, there are plans to implement the most promising ones in Children’s Mercy’s operating rooms to compare results.
“If it works at two hospitals, then we’ve got the basis for successful intervention styles,” Sutkin said.
Scaling a project like this for operating rooms across the country requires flexibility. Not all operating rooms are the same size, run the same equipment or have personnel with the same needs and preferences.
“They must consider things that will work specifically for their institution,” Sutkin said. “Take what works and leave what doesn’t.”
This research has the potential to revolutionize the way operating rooms are run and is yet another display of the strong collaboration between the UMKC School of Medicine and University Health.
“This is all about patient safety at University Health, and we couldn’t do it without all the incredible people there,” Sutkin said. “I’m hoping that we will reward their enthusiasm and investment with improving patient safety.”
Astleford Joins Foundation to Advance School Priorities
MATT ASTLEFORD has joined the UMKC Foundation as senior managing director of development for the School of Medicine. Astleford, who started at the university in October 2024, said his role combines several of his interests.
“When the opportunity came, it was too good to pass up,” Astleford said. “It’s a good marriage between healthcare and higher education, which are two areas I really care about. The other is rural health — something I’m very passionate about.”
Astleford’s enthusiasm for rural healthcare came about when he worked as a U.S. Senate staffer in his home state of South Dakota. He went on to work in higher education advancement at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, and at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Along the way, he maintained his passion for healthcare access.
“(Rural health) was the motivator for me to come to UMKC,” Astleford said.
At UMKC, he’s working directly with the team on the School of Medicine’s St. Joseph Campus to raise support for scholarships and the Rural Pathway Program, which encourages students to pursue careers in rural medicine. Astleford is also focusing on building philanthropic support for key initiatives, including scholarships, research and capital support for the Healthcare Delivery and Innovation Building. He works closely with Amelia Howard, senior director of alumni relations and annual giving. Howard, who was promoted to her role in late 2024, supports School of Medicine alumni development and supervises the health sciences alumni directors.
Astleford arrives at a crucial time for UMKC, which recently announced its Blue & Bold comprehensive campaign to raise money for buildings, scholarships and more.
"I am excited to be working on the campaign," he said. "I love connecting people with opportunities to make an impact."
To learn more about Blue & Bold, visit go.umkc.edu/bold.
