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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 7, 2025) — Kentucky Children’s Hospital (KCH) has been recognized as a 2025-26 Best Children’s Hospital by U.S. News & World Report. The rankings assist parents and caregivers, along with their physicians, in navigating the challenges of finding the best possible care for children with serious illnesses or complex medical needs. KCH was ranked nationally in two areas of specialized care: pediatric cardiology and heart surgery, and orthopedics. 

“At the University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare, our primary goal is to advance the overall health of Kentucky — that begins with the youngest of patients,” said Robert DiPaola, M.D., co-executive vice president for health affairs and provost at UK. “Our team members and partners deliver excellent care across a spectrum of subspecialties. We are honored to be recognized nationally for our commitment to the quality care we provide Kentucky’s children.”

“Healthy children grow into healthy adults, shaping a stronger future for Kentucky,” said Scottie B. Day, M.D., physician-in-chief for KCH. “Our pediatric cardiology program — recognized through our joint ranking with Cincinnati Children’s — remains among the best in the nation, and our partnership with Shriners Children’s in Lexington brings nationally recognized expertise in orthopedics. These achievements reflect the dedication of our teams and the strength of our collaborations, ensuring families across Kentucky can access the most advanced treatments and technology without leaving the state.”

The Joint Pediatric and Congenital Heart Program, a collaboration between KCH and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, is ranked 11th in the country in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery. This ranking also includes patients treated through the adult congenital heart program, a collaboration with UK HealthCare’s Gill Heart and Vascular Institute for adult patients who were born with congenital heart defects.

“We are proud to once again be ranked among the nation’s top programs for children’s heart care,” said Carl L. Backer, M.D., director of the KCH section of the Joint Pediatric Heart Care Program. “Through our collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s, we are ensuring that every child in Kentucky has access to the most advanced treatments and technology. Families can trust that they are receiving world-class heart care close to home.”

KCH also ranks in the top 50 nationally in pediatric orthopedics, offering expert care for children with bone and joint conditions while supporting healthy growth and development.

“This national recognition highlights the advanced care and outcomes our team delivers,” said Vishwas R. Talwalkar, M.D., professor of pediatric orthopedics and chief medical officer for Shriners Medical Center in Lexington. “Together, KCH and Shriners Children’s can leverage cutting-edge techniques and collaborative expertise to treat complex musculoskeletal conditions, helping children to thrive and be active.”

For the 2025-26 rankings, U.S. News, together with RTI International, a North Carolina-based research firm, collected and analyzed data from 118 children’s hospitals and surveyed thousands of pediatric specialists. Children’s hospitals awarded a “Best” designation excelled at factors such as clinical outcomes, compliance with established best practices, and level and quality of hospital resources directly related to patient care.

“Being a top-ranked pediatric hospital means more than just excelling in a single specialty — it means being a pillar of outstanding care for your entire region,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News & World Report. “Our rankings acknowledge these hospitals for their comprehensive excellence, helping families find the very best care conveniently located within their state and community.”

The full rankings for the 2025-26 Best Children’s Hospitals national, regional/state and specialty rankings can be found at USNews.com. For more information, explore #BestChildrensHospitals on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and X.

UK HealthCare is the hospitals and clinics of the University of Kentucky. But it is so much more. It is more than 10,000 dedicated health care professionals committed to providing advanced subspecialty care for the most critically injured and ill patients from the Commonwealth and beyond. It also is the home of the state’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for the tiniest and sickest newborns and the region’s only Level 1 trauma center.

As an academic research institution, we are continuously pursuing the next generation of cures, treatments, protocols and policies. Our discoveries have the potential to change what’s medically possible within our lifetimes. Our educators and thought leaders are transforming the health care landscape as our six health professions colleges teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals, spreading the highest standards of care. UK HealthCare is the power of advanced medicine committed to creating a healthier Kentucky, now and for generations to come.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 12, 2025) — Enrollment at the University of Kentucky is now pushing 40,000 students, with a preliminary fall enrollment of 38,719, UK President Eli Capilouto told members of the Board of Trustees on Friday. This number is up from 35,951 last fall.  

“Our preliminary numbers speak about who we are and what we do in support of our mission in advancing Kentucky,” Capilouto said. “More importantly, I know we all eagerly think about the generational change those students, when they leave the university, will make possible for communities throughout the Commonwealth.”  

UK’s student body represents every county in Kentucky, 50 states across the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Additionally, UK continues to make strides in recruiting and educating — and ultimately presenting diplomas — to more Kentuckians than ever before. 

Here are the details of the preliminary enrollment report. 

• First-time, first-year enrollment for Fall 2025 is 7,012 — up from 6,513 last fall.  
• For the first time, more than 4,000 first-year students are from Kentucky.  
• Nearly 1,900 students — another record number — are first-generation. That’s about 27% of the class, up almost a full percent over last fall.  
• Overall preliminary fall enrollment is 38,719 with nearly 28,000 undergraduate students.   
• More than 8,100 students are living on campus — over 270 more than last year. This will increase next year when a new residence hall opens, allowing an additional nearly 700 students to live and learn in the campus community. 

Along with attracting students from Kentucky and beyond, UK is also graduating students at record numbers. 

• UK’s preliminary six-year graduation rate is now at nearly 72% — also a record.
• UK’s five-year graduation rate for the first time is nearly 72% as well.  
• Initial estimates of UK’s four-year graduation rate of about 60% are as high as the six-year graduation rate was 15 years ago.  

“Each year our first-year students gather at Kroger Field to be part of an iconic photo where they fill in a map of the state of Kentucky, and every year the map gets a little larger,” Capilouto said. “This is a testament to the growing reputation of this university and the power of our promise to do and be more for the state we were created to serve more than 160 years ago.” 

Last fall, the UK Board of Trustees directed the university to do more than any institution in the country to improve the health of Kentucky. A key aspect of that directive is working to educate and graduate more students who will become health care professionals, a sector of Kentucky’s workforce facing critical shortages.

This fall, enrollment in health care colleges has increased, according to preliminary figures. More than 7,600 students are enrolled in the colleges of dentistry, health sciences, medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health. For example, enrollment in the College of Public Health has increased by more than 18 percentage points since last fall. 

“Part of the success in those growing numbers is my belief that at the University of Kentucky, we must do more and be more for our state by helping to create a healthier Kentucky for generations to come,” Capilouto said. 

In anticipation of increased enrollment across campus, UK also remains committed to supporting students — streamlining services to meet evolving needs. 

“Beyond our numbers is our commitment to the success of these students and how we are investing more in how we support them while they are on campus. As important as record-breaking numbers are, it’s even more vital that we help prepare these students for lives of meaning and purpose,” Capilouto said.  

These investments in these services demonstrate UK’s holistic approach to student success — one that grows alongside enrollment and ensures every student has the support to thrive. 

Within UK's Office for Student Success, recent efforts include the creation and expansion of:

• TRACS (Triage, Referral, Assistance and Crisis Support): Addressing mental health concerns and quickly connecting students with appropriate resources. 
• Financial Wellness: Including the development of UK Invests, a first-of-its-kind program that incentivizes student resource use while fostering lifelong healthy financial habits. 
• Integrated Success Coaching: Providing students with personalized action plans that support their success inside and outside the classroom. 

“While the most visible signs of our growing campus are new facilities — like the South Campus residence hall or the expanded and modernized White Hall Classroom Building and Johnson Student Recreation Center — what often goes unseen are the moments behind the scenes,” said Capilouto. “At the heart of it all is our culture of care, which guides everything our dedicated faculty and staff across campus do with and for our students.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 23, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand reopening of its newly renovated research facilities, marking a major milestone in the center’s decades-long mission to advance brain health and aging research. The $28 million renovation project, made possible thanks to funding from the Kentucky General Assembly, was completed earlier this month and modernized three floors of research space within the Sanders-Brown building located on UK’s campus next to the Kentucky Clinic.  

“These upgrades are more than bricks and mortar — they represent an investment by the University and by state legislators in the people and ideas that make Sanders-Brown a global leader in the science of aging,” said Sanders-Brown Center Director Linda Van Eldik. “Our internationally renowned researchers now have modern, purpose-built spaces that match the excellence of the work taking place inside them — spaces that support innovation, discovery and real impact on the lives of people facing neurodegenerative diseases.” 

The first floor of the renovated space houses meeting areas and offices for the Administrative Core, including two new conference rooms. The second floor features wet lab space dedicated to the Neuropathology and Biomarker Cores. The third floor is home to the Outreach, Recruitment and Engagement Core, the Data Management and Statistical Core, and research programs focused on Down syndrome and aging. 

The renovations were designed to support the center’s continued role as an international leader in research on Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related neurodegenerative conditions. The improvements also come at a significant moment in the center’s history: this year, Sanders-Brown celebrates its 40th anniversary as one of the country’s first 10 NIH-designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs). UK’s center has held continuous funding from the National Institute on Aging since 1985 and remains one of just 36 designated ADRCs in the U.S. today. 

“The work happening at Sanders-Brown touches lives not only here in Kentucky but across the country and around the world,” said Ilhem Messaoudi, Ph.D., UK acting vice president for research. “These enhanced facilities will ensure that our researchers remain at the forefront of discovery for years to come.” 

Since its inception, Sanders-Brown researchers have contributed significantly to understanding the biological processes underlying Alzheimer’s. Early studies from the center helped characterize the roles of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in disease progression, forming the foundation for much of today’s research. Additionally, Sanders-Brown has been instrumental in identifying how genetic risk factors, such as the APOE ε4 allele, contribute to an individual’s susceptibility to developing the disease. 

One of the center’s most significant contributions has been its research on early detection. Researchers at Sanders-Brown have developed innovative diagnostic tools, including advanced brain imaging techniques and biomarker studies, to identify Alzheimer’s disease at its earliest stages — often before symptoms even appear. These efforts have helped pave the way for earlier interventions and more effective treatment strategies. 

Pete Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine in the UK College of Medicine and serves as director of neuropathology at Sanders-Brown. Research from Nelson's lab and others at UK helped discover a new form of dementia known as LATE, a form of dementia that mimics Alzheimer’s disease and affects around a third of elderly people. His team’s work was then translated into the world’s first clinical trial to slow or completely prevent the development of LATE — hosted at UK by Greg Jicha, M.D., Ph.D., director of clinical trials at Sanders-Brown.

“I came to UK around 20 years ago intent on doing best-in-the-world dementia research,” Nelson said. “In my time here, I am proud to have been part of ground-breaking, world-leading discoveries. Our clinical trials are made possible by what we do right here in this building — pitting science against dementia. Our ultimate goal is to help people not only survive into their golden years, but to enjoy those years.” 

Housed in the UK College of Medicine, the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging also provides a robust training ground for the next generation of health care providers and researchers who are interested in studying, treating and preventing dementia. The center has training opportunities for people of all levels, from high school students to junior faculty. In 2017, the center was awarded a prestigious training grant from the National Institutes of Health to help train predoctoral graduate students and postdoctoral students.  

“Think of the momentum Sanders-Brown has built, and the possibilities ahead because of this renovated facility,” said Chipper Griffith, M.D., dean of the UK College of Medicine. “It will draw future health care leaders to our campus to train here and work here, it will spark innovation and discovery, and it expands our capabilities to find solutions for patients and their families. Aligned with the UK College of Medicine mission, it helps us serve our communities more effectively so we can advance Kentucky together.”  

The lab transformation was made possible with support from university leadership, Sanders-Brown's philanthropy council, Omni Architects, Whiting-Turner Construction, CMTA Engineering Consultants, and various departments at UK including Capital Projects Management, Facilities Management and Information Technology.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.