Frances Haas, DO (COM 1995), believes that “to whom much has been given, much is required” – and she believes that she has been given a lot.
Her path to medicine was anything but traditional. After graduating high school in 1969, she pursued a nursing degree at Missouri Southern State University (MSSU) in Joplin, Missouri. Financial support was scarce. Her family was poor, and after losing her father at just 15 years old, she relied on Social Security and veterans benefits along with a $200 scholarship to fund her education.
Looking back, Dr. Haas says that $200 scholarship, small by today’s standards, was pivotal in her obtaining her education. She wants to do the same for other non-traditional students, particularly those who are already working in the medical field.
Dr. Haas became a member of Kansas City University’s (KCU) Gold Society during her final year of medical school, beginning with small monthly donations—a commitment that has continued ever since. In 2025, she plans to establish the Haas/Mohler/Mahurin/Potts Scholarship at KCU, named to honor those who encouraged and supported her on her path to becoming a physician. Her ongoing monthly contributions will provide funding for this impactful scholarship.
Another pivotal point was her interaction with osteopathic physicians at Oak Hill Hospital in Joplin where she worked as an RN.
“As the attending physicians were teaching the medical students, they taught me,” she said. “I learned to palpate. They gave me the stethoscope and I got to listen to the chest and lungs, too.”
She loved that experience and soon decided to become an osteopathic physician. She began taking premed classes at MSSU and applying to medical schools. But her dream was to attend Kansas City University.
“When I worked at Oak Hill Hospital, medical students from the school rotated through,” she remembered. “One night, after a baby was born to a diabetic mother and went into diabetic shock, I accompanied the students when the baby was transferred to Kansas City. On the way, the baby arrested and while one student directed the ambulance driver to the hospital, I assisted the other with cardiac massage and CPR to keep the baby alive. Once we arrived at the hospital where doctors were able to care for the baby, they took me on a tour of the hospital. I was so impressed with their compassion and professionalism and the state-of-the art hospital, I decided this was the place I wanted to go to school,” she said.
Although it took three years—and persistence—Dr. Haas was accepted to KCU in 1991 at age 39.
Upon graduation in 1995, Dr. Haas completed her internship and residency at Tulsa Regional Medical Center, now Oklahoma State University Medical Center. Following her residency, she purchased a practice from a physician who specialized in HIV care and later served as a principal investigator for HIV pharmaceutical studies. Although Dr. Haas was passionate about her work with HIV drugs, private practice was challenging.
“It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, I couldn't make the insurance companies pay.” Although her staff was paid, she only made $6,000 a year.
After five years, she closed her practice and began teaching internal medicine at the University of Oklahoma. From there she went to the Warren Clinic in Tulsa but, in 2022, when she was 70, decided she should “slow down.”
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