The College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has educated and trained more than 10,500 physicians since 1879. As part of the state’s only health sciences university and UAMS Health, the college prepares physicians and scientists to transform health across Arkansas and make their mark around the world.
Download Fast Facts (PDF)
Our Mission
To improve health and increase knowledge through innovative teaching, groundbreaking research, state-of-the-art patient care and outstanding service to Arkansas, the nation and the world.
Core Values
Integrity | Respect | Teamwork | Creativity | Excellence | Diversity & Health Equity | Safety
Clinical Departments
- Anesthesiology
- Dermatology
- Geriatrics
- Emergency Medicine
- Family & Preventive Medicine
- Internal Medicine
- Medical Humanities and Bioethics
- Neurology
- Neurosurgery
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Ophthalmology
- Orthopaedic Surgery
- Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery
- Pathology
- Pediatric & Special Needs Dentistry
- Pediatrics
- Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
- Psychiatry
- Radiation Oncology
- Radiology
- Surgery
- Urology
Many departments have multiple divisions for clinical subspecialties, research activities and academic programs.
Basic Science Departments
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Biomedical Informatics
- Biostatistics
- Microbiology and Immunology
- Neurobiology/Developmental Sciences
- Pharmacology and Toxicology
- Physiology and Cell Biology
Education
- Approximately 700 medical students (freshman enrollment is 174).
- Student-centered active-learning curriculum fosters critical thinking. Interprofessional education helps future physicians learn to work in highly effective teams for improved patient care.
- Seven Academic Houses provide academic and career advising and support, peer mentoring and a greater sense of community for students.
- 18 juniors and 20 seniors are completing clinical rotations at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus with faculty including local practicing physicians.
- Accelerated, three-year M.D. degree program with special emphasis on primary care launched at UAMS Northwest in 2021-2022, bringing freshmen medical students to the Fayetteville campus for the first time.
- 64 residency and fellowship programs with about 700 residents/fellows within the COM. Approximately 150 additional family medicine residents and two sports medicine fellows train at 7 of the 8 UAMS Regional Campuses, where the faculty have COM appointments.
- Baptist Health-UAMS Medical Education Program offers family medicine, internal medicine and transitional-year residency programs, with 54 total residents training in 2021-2022. A psychiatry residency program will begin training in 2022.
- We help hospitals across Arkansas as they establish and maintain additional, much-needed residency programs to build Arkansas’ physician workforce.
- Medical Scholars in Public Health post-baccalaureate program, a partnership of the UAMS colleges of Medicine, Public Health and Pharmacy, welcomed its first 15 students in 2021. Students work toward a Masters in Public Health while preparing for future application and admission to medical school.
Patient Care
At UAMS in FY 2020, faculty physicians oversaw:
22,150 inpatients
463,482 outpatient visits
16,554 surgical cases
57,540 Emergency Department cases
119,707 patients at UAMS Regional Centers
We are part of UAMS Health, a statewide health system. Faculty physicians provide care to patients at UAMS’ main and regional campuses and clinics, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health.
Research
- Innovative research in many areas, including myeloma and other cancers, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, infectious disease, mental health illnesses and biomedical informatics.
- The UAMS Translational Research Institute, supported by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health, accelerates research that improves health and health care.
- Arkansas INBRE (IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence), funded by the NIH, supports mentorship-focused biomedical research for undergraduate college students and faculty.
- Institutional member and administrative home of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute, a research consortium dedicated to improving the health of Arkansans.
Statewide Reach
- UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation is working to eliminate health disparities through digital health innovations. The institute is home to acclaimed programs in maternal-fetal medicine, life-saving stroke care, trauma telemedicine and much more.
- UAMS Continuing Education Office is the state’s only nationally accredited provider of CME credits that Arkansas physicians must have to maintain licensure.
- Seven regional Centers on Aging, overseen by the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, provide education, specialized care and other services for older Arkansans and their families.
- In what became a national model, 11 Kids First sites throughout Arkansas provide multidisciplinary daytime care for children with special health care needs.
- Nine Head Start sites in Pulaski County serve 500 children ages three to five. The program also serves 224 infants, toddlers and pregnant women, with 72 of these families receiving services through a home-based model.
- Nationally recognized for providing quality education in primary care, graduating a high proportion of physicians who practice primary care, and for generating much-needed doctors for rural Arkansas
