Here are this week’s Accolades, a roundup of some of the honors and accomplishments of College of Medicine and UAMS faculty, staff, residents, fellows and students I’ve heard about recently!
Award-Winning Mentor, Distinguished Scholar
Congratulations to Dr. Stacie Jones, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Allergy and Immunology, on being selected for the 2023 Mentorship Award from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). Dr. Jones will be formally recognized at the organization’s annual meeting next February for her outstanding mentorship of students, residents, fellows and faculty during her 27 years as a physician scientist. As her AAAAI honoree profile so aptly states, Dr. Jones is greatly appreciated for providing insight and guidance and “lighting the way without squashing curiosity or creativity.”
Meanwhile, I am delighted to announce that the College of Medicine has selected Dr. Jones as this year’s Dean’s Distinguished Faculty Scholar. She will be honored and will present the Faculty Scholar Lecture later this year. Watch for information soon. Dr. Jones is internationally recognized for her research into life-threatening peanut allergies in children. She was a key leader in the ground-breaking study that led to FDA approval of the first ever drug for treating children with peanut allergies.
Opioid Awareness Leadership
The Opioid Prevention for Aging and Longevity (OPAL) team in the Department of Geriatrics and Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging received a well-earned Leadership Award at the 2022 Arkansas Prevention Summit. The award from the Arkansas Division of Aging, Adult and Behavioral Sciences recognized the federal- and state-supported OPAL program’s impact in raising awareness of opioid use in older Arkansans. Congratulations and kudos to Patricia Savary, Amanda Pangle, Naomi Armstrong, Dr. Regina Gibson and Dr. Gohar Azhar.
Vascular Lab Accreditation
A shout-out to the UAMS Vascular Lab for achieving vascular testing accreditation from the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC). UAMS is one of only two IAC accredited vascular labs in the state, and the only one dedicated exclusively to vascular testing. Special thanks to Dr. Mohammed Moursi, Medical Director of the lab and Director of the Division of Vascular Surgery, and Steven Schulze, B.S., RVT, Lab Director, for their hard work and commitment to providing outstanding vascular care and services.
New Accreditation for Crisis Stabilization Unit
Congratulations also to the Pulaski County Regional Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU), a 16-bed facility staffed by UAMS personnel, on its new accreditation last week from CARF International, which provides accreditation for behavioral health programs around the world. The Pulaski County CSU is directed by Dr. Lisa Evans, Associate Professor of Psychiatry. Surveyors declared the CSU a model unit to be emulated around the country, praising it for remaining open during the pandemic in addition to meeting CARF’s 1,300 behavioral health standards. The CSU was the state’s first nationally accredited unit in 2019 and is the first UAMS program to be credentialed by CARF International.
Preventing In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
Dr. Parthak Prodhan, Professor in the Cardiology and Critical Care Medicine sections of the Department of Pediatrics, is an author on a recent article in JAMA Pediatrics discussing how a collaborative learning network of pediatric cardiac intensive care teams was able to significantly reduce in-hospital cardiac arrest across multiple pediatric cardiac critical intensive care units through a low-tech practice bundle. He also recently co-authored articles on consensus recommendations for management of post-operative chylothorax in pediatric CHD, in Cardiology in the Young, and on the Norwood Operation and timing of sternal closure, in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Lawrence Greiten, Assistant Professor of Surgery, also was a coauthor on the consensus recommendations.
Making Puberty a Little Easier
The years around puberty can be a challenging time for girls, but the inaugural “Girlology” event hosted by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology earlier this month undoubtedly made it a little easier for about 220 pre-teen and teenage girls, parents and caregivers who attended. As OB/GYN Chair Dr. Nirvana Manning said, the goals were to “provide medically accurate information, create a shared experience and to keep the lines of communication open in the future.” The event was a great success thanks to Dr. Manning, Dr. Laura Hollenbach and Dr. Kathryn Stambough, along with nine medical student volunteers from the Obstetrics Interest Group. Read more in the UAMS Newsroom. Great job everyone!
Transplant Donors & COVID-19
First-year Surgery resident Dr. Hailey Hardgrave is first author on a recently published article, coauthored with the UAMS Transplant Research Group, indicating no evidence of donor-derived COVID-19 infection resulting from non-thoracic organ transplantation using COVID-19 positive donor organs. “Negative COVID-19 Plasma PCR Following COVID-19+ Donor Kidney Transplant” was published in Transplantation, the official journal of the Transplantation Society and the International Liver Transplantation Society. Dr. Hardgrave’s faculty coauthors were Drs. Lyle Burdine, Raj Patel and Emmanouil Giorgakis. Well done.
Ultrasound Training for Arkansas Physicians
Kudos to the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine for hosting a recent two-day point-of-care ultrasound training session for more than two dozen physicians from across the state. The training was the first step in a program to expand the use of point-of-care ultrasound with the help of a grant from the Health Resources and Services (HRSA) Medical Student Education Program. Ultrasound devices can help physicians diagnose their patients more efficiently, including in rural areas where patients have reduced access to specialty care. Special thanks to Assistant Professor Dr. Leslie Stone and team for their work on this initiative. Thanks also to the nine COM students who served as model patients during the training. Read more in the UAMS Newsroom.
Diversity Mentoring Awards
A shout-out to the Department of Anesthesiology’s Dr. Destiny Chau, Dr. Matthew Green and Dr. Jill Mhyre and fourth-year medical student Breyanna Dulaney on their 2022 Mentoring Awards from the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Committee on Professional Diversity. In her second consecutive annual mentoring grant from the ASA, Dr. Chau, a Professor, will mentor Dr. Green, an Assistant Professor, on a project to implement a curriculum to identify implicit biases and foster transparency and inclusivity in a diverse workplace. With their grant, Dr. Mhyre will mentor Breyanna on an evaluation of the Anesthesia Tech Pipeline Program for underrepresented minority college graduates that Dr. Mhyre developed as part of her 2020-2021 Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) fellowship.
Thank a Postdoc!
Postdocs aren’t only tomorrow’s senior scientists – they are, in the words of some UAMS faculty, the engine of our research enterprise today, the men and women who keep our research afloat, and a key driver in our mission to advance discoveries that improve health. Sept. 19-24 is National Postdoc Appreciation Week, and a slate of special activities has been planned for postdoctoral scholars at UAMS.
Additionally, faculty and colleagues can post a note of thanks using this kudoboard link. The board already contains some wonderful tributes to our postdocs, so check it out and add your own words of encouragement!
I also want to take a moment to thank those behind this collegial initiative, which was a team effort of the UAMS Division of Research and the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. Spearheaded by Dr. Peter DelNero, Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Community Health and Research, the core planning team also includes Dr. Mohamed Elasri, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, and Brandi Dawson, Administrative Coordinator for the Cancer Research Training and Education Core. Kudos also to Dr. Debasmita Saha, President of the UAMS Postdoctoral Society; Beth Taggard, Marty Trieschmann and Dr. Brigette Serfaty.