July 10, 2020
Kansas City, Kan. — Two physicians from The University of Kansas Health System are playing key roles in the University of Kansas’s plans to bring students, faculty and employees back to the Lawrence campus this fall.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer and executive vice president of clinical affairs, chairs the university’s new Pandemic Medical Advisory Team. Matthias Salathe, MD, Internal Medicine clinical service chief, also serves on the team. Salathe also is interim vice chancellor for research at the KU School of Medicine.
The Pandemic Medical Advisory Team is a governance group. Its members, who also hail from LMH Health and Douglas County health agencies, will present the latest science to inform major decisions about testing, contact tracing and other processes on how to reopen the Lawrence campus.
It’s one of several committees supporting the university’s “Protect KU” initiative. Among the initiative’s wide-ranging plans: reconfigured classroom seating, in-house testing, mask-wearing for all, move-in by appointment only and even using smart phones to conduct daily health self-assessments – without which people can’t enter buildings.