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!
National Leadership on Diversity
Congratulations to Dr. Ronda Henry-Tillman, Professor of Surgery and Chief of Breast Surgical Oncology, on being named as an inaugural member of the Surgery Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of the American Board of Surgery. As Surgery Chair Dr. Ron Robertson said when he shared this good news, the appointment is an incredible honor that speaks to Dr. Henry-Tillman’s ever-growing national reputation, and yet another example of how she represents us so very well. Thank you, Dr. Henry-Tillman.
Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials
Congratulations to Dr. Analiz Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of Neurosurgical Oncology, on being selected for the first cohort of the Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Program. The initiative is sponsored by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation along with its implementation partner, National Medical Fellowships, and its curriculum partner, the American Association for Cancer Research. Participants will be trained as world-class clinical research scientists with additional knowledge and skills in effective community outreach and engagement to help drive increased diversity in clinical trials.
Award of Gratitude
The Arkansas Blood Institute – whose volunteer donors supply blood for patients at UAMS and many other hospitals across the state – recently surprised Dr. Tina Ipe and the Transfusion Medicine team with an award of recognition for UAMS’ outstanding efforts and partnership during the COVID-19 crisis. UAMS was one of only a few hospitals to receive the recognition. ABI is an affiliate of the Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI). OBI Vice-President Terry Ridenour lauded Dr. Ipe’s work with the Arkansas Department of Health to make convalescent plasma available across the state in the early months of the pandemic and UAMS’ commitment to hosting drives to obtain much-needed blood. Great job, Transfusion Medicine Team!
Popular Paper
An article by Dr. Duah Alkam, Assistant Staff Scientist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and colleagues has been one of the most popular articles in the journal Microbial Genomics this fall. The article – the journal’s third most read in both October and November – was part of her thesis project for her Ph.D. in the Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences, which she completed earlier this year. As a graduate student, she worked with Dr. Mark Smeltzer, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and Dr. David Ussery, Professor of Biomedical Informatics. Great job!
The “PIT” Model
Dr. Rawle A. “Tony” Seupaul, Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and Chief Clinical Officer for UAMS Medical Center, recently presented at a national conference hosted by the performance improvement company Vizient. Dr. Seupaul discussed the Emergency Department’s success in dramatically decreasing the Left Without Being Seen (LWBS) percentage among patients through its Physician in Triage (PIT) model. Dr. Seupaul and colleagues Dr. Randy Maddox, Dr. Carly Eastin, Dr. Travis Eastin and Program Manager Crystal Sparks also found that the PIT model resulted in higher patient satisfaction and increased revenue for the hospital. Well done!
Revision Arthroplasty Prep Time
A shout-out to senior medical student Samantha Mohler on her excellent podium talk at the recent annual meeting of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons. Samantha presented a paper discussing the extensive preoperative preparation by the surgical team that is necessary for revision hip and knee arthroplasty. Her examination of EMR audit logs revealed, for example, that the prep time is more than 1.5 hours per patient for revision hip arthroplasty. Samantha’s mentors included the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery‘s Dr. Jeffrey Stambough and Dr. Simon Mears.
Winning Paper
Congratulations to fifth-year Surgery resident Dr. Krista Stephenson on winning the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma Region 6 Resident Paper Competition. Dr. Stephenson’s paper, which discussed a questionnaire used to predict functional outcomes and resource needs in pediatric trauma patients, will advance to the national competition. The paper stems from her research with Drs. Deidre Wyrick, Sid Dassinger and Todd Maxson, which was also presented at the recent Pediatric Trauma Society meeting.
Elected Fellows
The Department of Internal Medicine’s Dr. Subhi Al’Aref, Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, and Dr. Nishank Jain, Assistant Professor in the Division of Nephrology, have been elected Fellows of the Southern Society of Clinical Investigation. The society is dedicated to the advancement of medical research and the exchange of knowledge, information and ideas. Those elected as Fellows have demonstrated meritorious scholarly activities and current or anticipated academic leadership. Congratulations!
Expert Panelist
Dr. Julius Balogh, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Chief of Anesthesia Critical Care Medicine, was invited to serve on a panel alongside other experts from leading institutions around the country during the recent Society for the Advancement of Transplant Anesthesia regional conference. Dr. Balogh did a great job as he and fellow panelists conducted a lively and informative pro/con debate on coagulation versus thrombosis management in liver transplantation.
Data Analytics Leadership
Dr. Hoda Hagrass, Assistant Professor of Pathology, has been named Chair of a working group of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) that is developing a glossary to help AACC members and laboratory support staff understand the technology and applications of data analytics and machine-learning to laboratory medicine. She was initially appointed to the committee last year. Dr. Hagrass serves as Medical Director for the Clinical Chemistry and Immunology Laboratories at UAMS and the Clinical Chemistry and Metabolic Diseases Laboratories at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Kudos to Dr. Hagrass for her leadership in this area.
Historical Publication
Sixth-year Neurosurgery resident Dr. Kelsey Hundley is the lead author on a historical vignette about prominent early neuropathologist Dr. Louise Eisenhardt that has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Neurosurgery. Dr. Eisenhardt was a leader in the field of neuropathology and the first editor of the Journal of Neurosurgery. She worked with pioneering neurosurgeon Dr. Harvey Cushing on many of his published works, and together they founded a brain tumor registry. Dr. Eisenhardt’s handwritten notes, which are archived in the Department of Neurosurgery at UAMS, describe her and Dr. Cushing’s methods for collecting follow-up data on patients. Faculty members Dr. T. Glenn Pait and Dr. Analiz Rodriguez and Neurosurgery Chair Dr. J.D. Day contributed to the journal article, and Dr. Hundley has presented nationally on the historical papers. Great job!
Leading the Way on Community Engagement
Finally this week, I would like to once again thank Dr. Pearl McElfish for her ongoing leadership of community engagement initiatives at UAMS. This work recently earned a prestigious recognition from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Engagement. I talked with Dr. McElfish about the importance of community engagement across our mission areas for our Spotlight on Excellence video series. If you haven’t had an opportunity to watch the video yet, check it out here.