Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences College of Osteopathic Medicine has educated physicians, scientists and health-care leaders in Kansas City for almost 90 years. The College was founded as Kansas City College of Osteopathy and Surgery May 16, 1916, in an office building in downtown Kansas City, Mo. George G. Conley, D.O., was the school's first president. In January of the next year, the College graduated its first student, Mamie Johnston, a transfer student. More than 7,000 physicians have graduated from KCUMB-COM since its founding.

The College moved later that year to 15th and Troost Avenue, and then in 1921, to its present location on Independence Avenue on what was then the main artery between downtown Kansas City and the nearby community of Independence, Mo.

In 1928, the College was renamed Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine, and in 1980, it became the leading College of The University of Health Sciences. The University became Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in 2004, reflecting its expanding mission in research and the addition of a College of Biosciences.

The College of Osteopathic Medicine has a long and proud tradition of providing exemplary and compassionate care to the Kansas City community. Lakeside Osteopathic Hospital opened in 1924 near 29th and The Paseo, and Conley Hospital, which was later converted to a maternity hospital, was opened in 1936. Osteopathic Hospital at 11th and Harrison became the University's primary teaching hospital in 1944, with satellite hospitals and clinics in other parts of the city. University Hospital, a 426-bed teaching hospital, opened in 1972.

Today, the KCUMB College of Osteopathic Medicine is one of the oldest and largest of the nation's 20 colleges of osteopathic medicine. It is the oldest medical school in Kansas City, Mo., and, with more than 900 students in its four-year program, the largest in the State of Missouri.

KCUMB-COM students spend two years on campus in an academic environment with early clinical and educational enhancements. The second two years are spent in clerkships, many in the hospitals of HCA Midwest, the city's largest health-care provider. The College recruits nationally, and many students are able to return to core sites near their home communities for third- and fourth-year clerkships and postdoctoral training.

An innovative patient-centered curriculum provides clinical and academic enhancements, including a spirituality component that introduces elements of spirituality, cultural diversity and end-of-life care throughout the four-year curriculum and beyond. The University has twice received the John Templeton Foundation's Spirituality in Medicine Award, one of only two medical schools in the United States to be so honored.

Thanks to a unique partnership with Rockhurst University's Helzberg School of Management, KCUMB-COM students have an opportunity to earn a conjunctive Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine-Masters' Degree in Health Care Leadership.

Passage of both COMLEX levels I and II board examinations is required for graduation from KCUMB-COM. KCUMB-COM scores commonly average more than five percent above the national mean on both, attesting to the success of the new curriculum.

Post-doctoral opportunities abound, both through the hospitals of the KCUMB-COM Educational Consortium, an Osteopathic Post-doctoral Training Institution, and a wide network of allopathic and osteopathic hospitals that prize the academic preparation and clinical skills of KCUMB-COM graduates. More than 95 percent of KCUMB graduates commonly match to their first choices in postdoctoral programs across the country.

Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences College of Osteopathic Medicine has strong roots in Kansas City's early health-care history, and we are proud to carry those forward in an ever-broadening mission.

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