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!
Aiding the Cancer Moonshot
A shout-out to Bill Bennett, an Instructor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, who created an extensive suite of tools for image de-identification and curation for The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), the National Cancer Institute-supported public database housed at UAMS. We have just learned that the U.S. Department of Defense is adopting these tools, called Posda, to support the federal “Cancer Moonshot” program. The de-identification of clinical images is crucial for making data safe for sharing and publishing in the collaborative pursuit of new therapies for fighting cancer. I join with Dr. Fred Prior, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Biomedical Informatics and Director of the TCIA, in thanking Bill for sharing his expertise at UAMS over the past seven years, and in wishing him all the best in his upcoming retirement.
National Leadership in Gynecology
Dr. Kathryn Stambough, Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is lending her expertise as a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Clinical Consensus Committee for Gynecology. She is the only currently serving member from Arkansas and was instrumental in formulating the recent publication of updated practice guidelines for the medical management of menstrual suppression. Dr. Stambough serves as a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist at Arkansas Children’s and as Assistant Program Director for the OB/GYN Residency Program at UAMS. Kudos to Dr. Stambough for her national leadership as well as her excellent work in gynecological care and education.
Rising Star in Thoracic Surgery
Dr. Lauren Johnson, a fourth-year General Surgery resident currently completing a dedicated lab research year, received the “Looking to the Future” scholarship from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). The Looking to the Future program identifies rising stars in thoracic surgery and provides mentorship, career development workshops and other opportunities to participate in leadership programs. The scholarship covered travel and participation in the recent STS annual meeting in San Diego. Congratulations, Dr. Johnson.
Groundbreaking Collaboration
The Department of Neurosurgery’s Dr. Erika Petersen and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery’s Dr. John Bracey and Dr. Mark Tait are collaborating with the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I3R) at the University of Arkansas and other partners on a groundbreaking technology and clinical trial with the potential to make meaningful sensations of touch, grip force and hand-opening possible for patients with upper limb amputations, using neural-enabled prosthesis. Dr. Petersen is a Professor and Director of Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery. Dr. Bracey, an Assistant Professor, and Dr. Tait, an Associate Professor, are hand and nerve specialists. Read more about this exciting work in the UAMS Newsroom.
Striving for Sustainability
UAMS’s sustainability efforts are featured in a newly published article by Dr. Kristie Hadden, Associate Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics and Senior Strategy Associate in the UAMS Office of Strategy Management; Christina Clark, MBA, Vice Chancellor for Support Services and Chief Operations Officer; Dr. Stephanie Gardner, UAMS Provost and Chief Strategy Officer; and Dr. Cam Patterson, Chancellor and CEO of UAMS Health. The article, “UAMS’s Response to Climate Crisis: Using energy savings to fund sustainability at an Academic Health Center,” is in the February issue of the Journal of Healthcare Contracting.
104 and Cancer Free
And finally this week, I would like to share a story about an incredible patient – and the healing care initially provided by Dr. James Suen, Distinguished Professor and former Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, nearly 50 years ago. Camden resident Maddie Upton first saw Dr. Suen and received treatment for mouth cancer in 1974. The now 104-year-old cancer survivor and Dr. Suen have maintained a special friendship as doctor and patient ever since. You can read more about Ms. Upton, from her birth during the last months of World War I to the positive attitude she exudes today, in the UAMS Newsroom.