For more than 30 years, the KU School of Medicine - Wichita has been turning out some of the best doctors in the state. In 2009, the school began a new era under the leadership of a new dean, Dr. David Wilson. The Illinois native and M.D. hit the ground running with an ambitious set of plans to add degree programs, increase health-care options for Kansans, provide training for health personnel and nearly triple the school's economic impact in the Wichita community.

"Our goal is to produce doctors for Kansas," says Wilson, who estimates that nearly half of the school's 1,600-plus graduates have gone on to practice in Kansas. "I want to spend time during next year exploring rural and western Kansas and talk to the legislature about what we can do to meet needs in those communities."

The school provides education and residency programs to 110 third- and fourth-year medical students from the KU School of Medicine in Kansas City – both campuses are components of the University of Kansas Medical Center. Under Wilson's plan, the Wichita school will expand to a full four-year campus with up to 250 students by 2015. And in 2011, KU-Wichita will welcome its first pharmacy school class, expected to grow to 80 students in its first four years.

"I think the people of Wichita have been looking forward to a four-year campus for 30 years," Wilson says. "The faculty also is excited about being involved at an earlier stage in the students' learning."

Plans also are under way to grow the school's state-of-the-art medical practices through additional patient clinics, including a Wichita-based center for rural health. Students currently gain clinical experience at the school-run Jaydoc Community Clinic, physician offices and local hospital partnerships.

Another of Wilson's goals is to assist KU Medical School-Kansas City in its quest for National Cancer Institute designation by 2011. "We see ourselves as a supportive partner in that effort, but not the major thrust," Wilson says.

Meanwhile, Wichita's health-care community is buzzing about Wilson's plan for the creation of a regional simulation center. With an anticipated price tag of more than $25 million, the center will provide a high-tech training ground for students and other health professionals to develop life-saving skills.

"We're learning in many ways from the region's aircraft industry, as we've been flying in simulated airplanes for 35 years," Wilson says. "Mannequins can simulate a whole host of human conditions that allow medical students, doctors, nurses and emergency responders to practice life-saving maneuvers. It's an expensive proposition, but will benefit and unite so many in health care, which is the second largest industry in Wichita."

Once in place, Wilson's plans for the school are expected to nearly triple its current regional economic impact of $50 million.

"When even more students come here and then stay for all four years, they'll buy a house," Wilson says. "Their kids will go to school here, and more than likely they'll settle in a nearby community. Although half of our doctors already choose to stay here in Kansas, I think we can do better."

KU School of Medicine Facts & Figures

• The Wichita campus provides hands-on, clinical training to about 110 total third- and fourth-year medical students.
• Plans are under way to expand to a full, four-year campus in Wichita, educating up to 250 students by 2015.
• The school's fiscal year 2009 regional economic impact was $49.7 million.
• Of the more than 1,600 medical students who have graduated from the Wichita school since 1975, almost half have gone on to practice in Kansas, compared to a national average of 29 percent of doctors graduating from medical school and remaining in the same state to practice.

Hospitals in Metro Wichita:

Sedgwick County
Galichia Heart Hospital
Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center
Via Christi Health
Wesley Medical Center

Harvey County
Newton Medical Center

Butler County
Kansas Medical Center
Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital

Sumner County
Sumner Regional Medical Center
Sumner County Hospital District No. 1