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KMA History
  The Institute was originally created by Keith Mauney, within the Department of Surgery at what is now known as University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, one of the top five medical schools in the country.
As the Founder and Director of the Clinical Vascular Laboratory he saw the need to clarify and correct many of the early misconceptions about cardiovascular ultrasound technology and its use. Years before this, however, his experience in cardiovascular medicine was being forged at one of the largest and most advanced cardiovascular diagnostic centers in the southeastern US. Subsequent to this and prior to relocating to Dallas he opened the second neurovascular diagnostic center in the country whose sole purpose was to interdict stroke.
From these beginnings a lifelong commitment was made to develop both cutting edge clinical services as well as develop and share practical, relevant information to help frame the mind of the clinician using ultrasound as a tool. To create such a place would require the recruitment and refinement of the best professionals available.
He found them.
Though individual and small group instruction had carried on since 1978, the first formal class was convened in June of 1982 at UT Southwestern. The popularity of the curriculum necessitated early expansion, in affiliation with three other Universities: University of Illinois at Chicago, UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Brigham & Women’s University in Boston. The curriculum was expanded into the full body application of ultrasound from 1983-1985.
 At this point, the decision was made to cleave the Institute from the multivariate agendas of the various institutions to be able to present a tightly focused, politically and commercially unbiased approach to teaching critical clinical skills. From its beginning, KMA has remained completely independent of any outside sponsorship or formal institutional affiliation.
Fast forward to the present day . . .
Though it was not his original intention, Mr. Mauney’s vision –along with the cooperative effort of over 600 top faculty professionals—has literally changed the face of the technology and its application. He was sought out by President George Bush in 1989 to input to the US Congress early proposed guidelines for framing Medicare reimbursement criteria. He again returned to Washington in 1991 to collaborate with others to help frame the guidelines which would become the Intersocietal Commission for Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories. Ever since, the Institute has quietly shaped the field the only way possible, one professional at a time.
Throughout it all, he has been present as a lead or support instructor in all but two of the thousands of classes taught by the Institute. The facility bears his name only because of our collective commitment to ultimately hold a single, visible person directly accountable for our student’s experiences.
From across the world, physicians, nurses, sonographers, and other professionals alike--numbering in excess of 25,000--have gained professional knowledge and a life changing mindset at the hands of the KMA Team. Today, headquartered in Dallas, Texas the Institute is preparing for its second quarter-century of service.
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