Dr. Kathleen Sandness doesn't see herself as anything special. The American College of Physicians would say otherwise: the organization has designated the Pittsburg physician with “Mastership” — the highest level attainable that recognizes outstanding and significant career accomplishments.
Not bad for someone who never intended to be a doctor.
“I always wanted to be a rancher — that's what I do in my spare time. Horses, cattle, that sort of thing,” she said.
A chance conversation put her on the path to medicine, and she enrolled in the Pittsburg State University Biology Department’s pre-med program. After earning her bachelor’s degree in 1983, she went on to graduate with her medical degree from the University of Kansas and has been in practice in Pittsburg ever since.
Today, she directs the Bryant Student Health Center at Pitt State and is an internist at Ascension Via Christi hospital.
“My phone number has always been listed, so I’ve literally treated people who show up in my driveway,” she said. “It’s who I am, it defines me, and I’m a physician 24 hours a day. What a gift to be able to do that — my world has never been 8 to 5, and I’m happy with that.”
Since residency, she has gone to every national meeting of the ACP with the exception of 2020-2021. She’s active in the state chapter of the ACP, completes a self-assessment program every three years, and looks to the organization with the highest regard.
To earn Mastership, a physician is voted on by their peers.
“To me, this is not something I deserve — these are for the icons of internal medicine, for internationally known people,” she said. “It’s a wonderful honor and completely undeserved — I'm a little person in a small town just showing up each day.”
She is quick to rattle off names of other Pitt State graduates who practice medicine here and have had a significant impact on the quality of life, as well as those who have gone on to prestigious positions elsewhere.
“People like Dr. Steve Starr (cardiologist named one of Kansas City’s top doctors by Ingram’s Magazine) and Dr. Brian Armstrong (cardiologist who trained at Duke),” she said. “They graduated from here and are phenomenal.”
Despite her humility, university administrators have credited Sandness for her leadership of the health center and for her role in guiding Pitt State through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To say that I am honored to be elected to receive my Mastership from ACP would be an understatement. In my life, the Masters of ACP have been icons and models of the best of the best internists and were to be revered,” Sandness said.
“I can honestly say that my love and joy in being an internist for the last 35 years has never diminished. I have never been more proud to be a general internal medicine physician trained in the art of diagnosis and treatment than I have now in this time of often fragmented delivery of health care,” she added.
"Hopefully one patient at a time, I’ve done my best."
