Career Service Awards
Congratulations to the many College of Medicine and UAMS team members who were recognized for their years of service this week. It was an honor to join with Chancellor Cam Patterson and other UAMS leaders to recognize employees with 20-plus years of service at a ceremony on Tuesday. The celebration continued this afternoon with a reception for those with 5, 10 and 15 years of service.
Three UAMS team members were recognized for their incredible 50 years of service, including College of Medicine faculty Dr. Linda McGhee and Dr. James Suen. Dr. McGhee, an Associate Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, has inspired countless residents and students through her teaching, mentorship and devotion to patients. Dr. Suen, a Distinguished Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, chaired the department for 43 years and co-founded what is now the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
The Department of Neurology’s Gwenn Higginbotham marked her 45th year at UAMS this year, and COM team members Rhonda Anthony, Selma Chandler, Dr. William Golden, Anjacnette Harris, Jannetta Palmer, Michele Perry, Tom South and Dr. Joanne Szabo all earned their 40-year pins. Many others aren’t far behind, so I encourage you to take a moment to check out the lists of honorees on the Employee Service Awards website. (Please note that team members may be included under institutes and other units besides the COM.)
Thank you all for your service through the years, and in the years to come. We couldn’t do it without you.
Important Statistical Concepts – Simplified
The NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare and USDA National Agricultural Library invited Dr. Reid Landes, Professor of Biostatistics, to explain basic statistical concepts of experimental design and statistical analysis of animal experiments at the 11th Annual 3Rs Symposium: Practical Approaches to Each of the 3Rs. His excellent talk, “Think big, not small, to reduce N overall” covers two common scenarios in animal experiments: experiments with same-group cage-mates and replicating experiments for reproducibility’s sake. For each scenario, Dr. Landes provides a practical question and fact to consider when developing, or when reviewing, animal experiments.
Geriatrics Research in Spotlight
Department of Geriatrics faculty, trainees and medical students presented 10 abstracts and took home honors at the recent annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America in Seattle. Presidential Poster Awards went to postdoctoral fellow Dr. Pankaj Patyal and colleagues for “Cardiac overexpression of serum response factor alters mitochondrial structure and function,” and to postdoctoral fellow Dr. Ambika Verma and colleagues for “P. gingivalis-LPS promotes AD/ADRD via Caspase-4-Mediated Noncanonical Inflammasome Pathway.” Medical students Lauren Camp, Riley Swafford, Esther Park and Milenko Petrovic were coauthors on three abstracts presented at the meeting.
Consult-Liaison Psychiatry National Conference
The Department of Psychiatry was well represented at the recent Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry annual conference in Miami. Third-year residents Dr. Molly Wootten, Dr. Christopher Parrill and Dr. Catey May-Martin presented posters. Dr. Wooten won the Best Case Report award for “Hard Choices: A Case of Antipsychotic Induced Priapism in Treatment Resistant Schizoaffective Disorder with Recurrent Catatonia.” Faculty members and Psychiatric Research Institute consult-liaison physicians Dr. Payton Lea, Dr. Samidha Tripathi and Dr. Amy Grooms also attended. Dr. Tripathi joined with collaborators from four other institutions to present a pre-conference skills course, “C-L Admin 101: What every CL psychiatrist should know.”
A Toast to Great Communicators!
Communication skills are important to the professional success of both future and practicing physicians. Many of our students are honing their skills in speaking, presenting and leadership as members of Confident Communicators, the Toastmasters Club for students at UAMS. Medical students Melanie Beehler, Quincy Gragg and Harrison Jenkins did a great job discussing the benefits and their experiences with the club as members of a panel at the Toastmasters International Summit held at Philander Smith University in Little Rock in November. And congratulations to Sharanda Williams, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, who received the Director’s Choice Award at the conference for her outstanding service to District 43 Toastmasters. Sharanda is a member of Bridge Builders, the Toastmasters club for UAMS staff.
Top Doctors
Finally this week, congratulations to the many faculty physicians who were named to the 2024 Castle Connolly Top Doctors list, published this month in Arkansas Times. The list includes outstanding College of Medicine physicians who practice at locations including UAMS Medical Center, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System and Baptist Health. UAMS is always a strong presence on the list, and this year is no exception. Kudos to all for your dedication to providing world-class clinical care along with your service in education, research and service to communities across the state.