UK King's Daughters Jobs and Company Information
As a member of our Medical Staff, you'll have support from fellow physicians, many of whom are part of the UK King's Daughters leadership team. Our recruiting and Medical Affairs team work to ensure your new practice begins smoothly with a focus on your needs.
At UK King’s Daughters, physicians are seen and heard. Your opinions are valued. Physicians hold key, decision-making positions in senior leadership and within the medical staff structure. Physicians guide initiatives across the organization, from strategic planning, to EHR functionality, physician recruitment, and population health.
Our comprehensive onboarding program includes structured orientation along with training in our electronic health record, protocols, and workflows. Together, we establish specific goals and performance metrics and communicate results to you regularly, so you always know where you stand.
Our Business Development team helps ensure you make connections early on with referral sources, mentors and others who will help you succeed. We encourage professional development, provide CME opportunities, and deliver timely feedback and coaching when necessary.
We work hard to ensure that you and your family make connections, through both informal and formal events. Above all else, our goal is to ensure a healthy work-life balance that allows you not only to practice medicine, but to enjoy the experience, too.
Company Information
UK King’s Daughters, a university-affiliated regional referral center, serves a population of about 750,000 people in eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio, and western West Virginia. Our network includes more than 500 physicians and advanced practice providers; 80 ambulatory centers and practice locations, a 455-bed medical center located in Ashland, Ky.; a long-term care facility; medical transport company; eight urgent care centers; and a child development center. King's Daughters is the region's largest employer, with more than 5,800 team members. We provide a broad range of primary and specialty care services, including cardiovascular, orthopedics, oncology, digestive health, neurology and neurosurgery, maternity, and Level 3 neonatal intensive care.
UK King's Daughters is invested in the long-term health and prosperity of the communities we serve. In Spring 2025, we opened our new $160 million Emergency, Imaging and Main Entrance. Current projects include construction of a new procedural area for endoscopy, bronchoscopy and urological procedures (2026); planning and construction of a new primary/specialty care outreach location; and the initiation of an internal medicine residency program (July 2026).
As part of the University of Kentucky, UK King's Daughters is proud to partner with the UK HealthCare to bring advanced specialists and cutting-edge care to our communities. We are members of UK HealthCare's Markey Cancer Network, the Gill Heart & Vascular Institute Affiliate Network, and Golisano Children's Hospital at UK Network.
Company History
Their name—and their inspiration—came from scripture. Psalms 45:13 speaks of “the king’s daughter… all glorious within,” while John 14:13 promises, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.” From these verses, the women chose the striking and hopeful name “What-So-Ever Circle.”
Not long after forming, the Circle turned its attention to a need the community could no longer ignore. Local physicians urged the group to direct their charitable energy toward a single goal: creating a hospital for Ashland and the surrounding region. Their appeal resonated. In early 1898, at a meeting in the office of Dr. John W. Martin, the medical community united behind the effort—setting in motion the work that would ultimately change healthcare in the region.
The early years of the hospital were marked by grit, resourcefulness, and a determination to meet the community’s needs wherever space could be found. The very first “hospital” opened in three borrowed rooms on the second floor of the Poage, Elliott & Poage Drug Store on 16th Street. Harriet DeBord of Greenup, Ky., was appointed the first superintendent, overseeing an operation that was humble in space but ambitious in purpose. The hospital’s first patient arrived suffering from typhoid fever; its first surgery—a leg amputation following a railway accident—was a stark reminder of the urgent need for reliable medical care.
Growth came quickly. In just 18 years, the hospital would relocate four times, each move prompted by the same issue: demand was outpacing space.
The 1899 & 1906 Moves
In June 1899, the hospital shifted into a two-story, seven-room frame house on the north side of Greenup Avenue. The following month, it officially incorporated as King’s Daughters’ Hospital, opening formally on July 10, 1899. While historical records from this period are sparse, the Greenup Avenue location served the community for nearly seven pivotal years.
By 1906, the What-So-Ever Circle had purchased a larger two-story, nine-room home on East Winchester Avenue. This became the hospital’s new base of operations, and it was here—on August 26, 1906—that the hospital celebrated a milestone: the delivery of its first baby.
As the hospital’s reputation grew, so did conversations about the future of healthcare in the region. In 1913, the Boyd County Medical Association drafted plans for a new countywide hospital and formed a sweeping advisory board with representatives from civic, religious, fraternal, and benevolent groups. They invited the What-So-Ever Circle to support the initiative, but not to lead it—believing the women lacked the qualifications to build and operate the modern hospital they envisioned. The Circle strongly disagreed and declined the proposal, choosing instead to continue charting their own course.
The Move to Lexington Avenue
Determined to build a hospital worthy of the community’s needs, fundraising began on March 9, 1916, with an ambitious goal: $50,000 in just five days. The campaign brought in $40,000—short of the target, but enough to break ground on a new permanent home in the 2200 block of Lexington Avenue.
Construction began May 9, 1916, on what would become a two-story, 50-bed facility. By November 1917, staff and patients moved into the new building—solid, spacious, and built for the future.
Though the hospital has seen countless additions, upgrades, and transformations since 1917, one thing has remained constant: its address. For more than a century, King’s Daughters has continued its mission from the same place it first stood—2201 Lexington Avenue.