KU School of Medicine-Wichita

It was a shot heard about around the world. innovative 23 H. David Wilson, M.D., becomes sixth dean. Half of the physicians practicing in Sedgwick County are graduates of the KU School of Medicine-Wichita medical school and/or residency program. KU Wichita General Pediatrics Clinic opens in Carriage Parkway. 2008 2009 2009 In 1980, Richard Guthrie, M.D., the founding chair of the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita's Department of Pediatrics, administered the world's first injection of biosynthetic human insulin in his Wichita clinic. "It was a very big deal," recalled Sandra Atherton. As the first recipient, Atherton, now 77, was featured in news stories and publications that reported on the clinical trial in which Guthrie was participating. A photo of that historic moment still hangs on the wall of the clinic that Atherton continues to visit for ongoing diabetes care with Belinda Childs, APRN, who was Guthrie's initial research coordinator. The biosynthetic human insulin clinical trial put forward a new treatment protocol for patients with diabetes — and it also set KUSM-Wichita on a path of engaging in significant research that has had implications in care and treatments regionally, nationally and even worldwide. "One could argue that Dr. Guthrie really paved the way as one of the original faculty who did truly impactful and revolutionary clinical trials," said Brian Pate, M.D., who graduated from KUSM-Wichita in 1995 and returned in 2014 to lead the pediatrics department. Since then, other faculty and departments have also made meaningful contributions through clinical trials and studies — physicians like Donna Sweet, M.D., who since joining the faculty in 1982 has led the treatment of HIV/AIDS in much of Kansas, and Sheldon Preskorn, M.D., who joined the faculty in 1985 and has been a principal investigator on nearly every psychiatric medication on the market today, ranging from "first time in humans" to Phase 3 trials. Also, the KUSM-Wichita Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences was notably part of the clinical trial that led to the first psychiatric depression medica- tion (esketamine) to earn a breakthrough therapy designation with the FDA in 2016. Sweet was involved in testing AZT, the first HIV drug, and is now participating in a study of a slow-release medication that could lead to a "sea change" in HIV/AIDS protocols, she said. "Once you're successful and they know you can do the work, [grantors] will keep coming back to you, especially pharmaceutical companies," said K. James Kallail, Ph.D., KUSM-Wichita associate dean for research. In August, KUSM-Wichita was announced as one of the more than 100 sites that would participate in Phase 3 clinical trials of the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine trial. In a partnership between KUSM-Wichita and the University of Kansas Medical Center and Children's Mercy in Kansas City, about 1,200 patients will be enrolled in the study, with 200 to be enrolled at the KUSM-Wichita site, according to Tiany Schwasinger- Schmidt, M.D., Ph.D., director of the KU Wichita Center for Clinical Research. The vaccine was developed at Oxford University and purchased by the British multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The AstraZeneca trial is one of about a handful of large-scale COVID-19 vaccine trials underway in the U.S. Many other clinical trials are also ongoing at KUSM-Wichita. During fall 2020, for example, recruitment for around a dozen studies was underway. The trials include testing a meningitis vaccine for babies, an antidepressant treatment for youth ages 7 to 17 and a possible treatment for those with early Alzheimer's up to age 90. patient care

• Cover