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.
Way to Go, TRI!
Congratulations to Dr. Laura James and the entire team in the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI) on the successful $31.7 million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) renewal. The highly competitive funding from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be used to continue TRI’s exceptional work to cultivate and support UAMS researchers and partners across the state in efforts to accelerate discoveries to transform health.
Dr. James has provided superb leadership for TRI since 2014 and will continue to serve as Principal Investigator on the CTSA, which includes a primary award of $26.9 million over seven years. Dr. James, a Professor of Pediatrics, also serves as UAMS Associate Vice Chancellor for Clinical and Translational Research.
The new funding includes two additional grants. The K12 Mentored Research Career Development Scholar Award Program will receive $3.78 million over five years. Co-Directors are Dr. John Arthur, Professor and Director of the Division of Nephrology; Dr. Elisabet Borsheim, Professor of Pediatrics; and Dr. Mario Schootman, Professor and Director of Research in the Institute for Community Health Innovation. The T32 Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program will receive $952,975 over five years. The program will be led by Dr. John Imig, Professor and Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy.
Many College of Medicine faculty have contributed to TRI’s accomplishments and will continue to lead its state-of-the-art programs. These include individuals from the departments of Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Biomedical Informatics, Neurology, Biostatistics and Surgery. In addition, TRI works closely with the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Institute for Community Health Innovation and the UAMS Office of Research and Innovation. Read more in the UAMS Newsroom.
Championing STEM in Northwest Arkansas
Dr. Kevin D. Phelan, Professor of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences, has long been a champion of introducing young Arkansans to health and medicine-related technologies and careers through STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) outreach and pipeline initiatives, in addition to his outstanding work with medical students. Most recently, he received a $1.3 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to launch the Arkansas Technology and Data Science in Health and Medicine (AR Tech-DaSH) program in Northwest Arkansas. The program is tailored for underserved and underrepresented high school students, with the long-term aim of building a more diverse health care and STEM workforce.
Co-Investigators on the project include Dr. Paul Drew, Professor and Chair of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences, Jessica Presley, MPP, Senior Director of Evaluation in the Institute for Community Health Innovation, and Dr. Brian Gittens, Vice Chancellor for Academic Pathways and Workforce Partnerships. Learn more about AR Tech-DaSH in the UAMS Newsroom.
Insights into HLA Structures
A new paper by UAMS colleagues sheds light on DNA structural features relating to Major Histocompatability Locus (MHC), or Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) genes, where variations are responsible for more diseases than in the entire rest of the human genome. UAMS coauthors include Dr. David Ussery, Professor of Biomedical Informatics; Dr. Terry Harville, Professor of Pathology and Internal Medicine/Hematology; Dr. Visanu Wanchai, a postdoctoral fellow in the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute/Myeloma Center; and Clinical Informatics fellow Dr. Jonathan Chastain.
FACP Election
A shout-out to Dr. Sri Obulareddy, Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, on her election as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP). Dr. Obulareddy is a breast cancer oncologist in the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. She also serves on the Governor’s Advisory Council of the American College of Physicians (ACP) Arkansas Chapter.
Suicide Prevention Research
Dr. Sara Landes, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, presented two posters at the AcademyHealth 2024 annual research meeting in Baltimore June 28-July 2. AcademyHealth is a nonpartisan, non-profit professional organization dedicated to advancing the fields of health services research and health policy. Dr. Landes presented a poster based on her research on “Implementation of a lethal means safety intervention at the Veterans Crisis Line: Mailing devices to enhance access to suicide prevention” and another on “Randomized evaluation of the Caring Letters Suicide Prevention Intervention following contact with the Veterans Crisis Line.”
Navigating Conflict in Physician-Patient (and other) Communications
Dr. Sofie Morgan, Associate Chief Quality Officer for Patient Experience and Associate Chief Medical Officer for UAMS Health, penned a thoughtful blog post on navigating conflict in physician communication for the Beryl Institute’s Patient Experience Blog. “Many perceive conflict narrowly as a win-lose situation,” explains Dr. Morgan, an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and certified professional coach. This can hamper doctor-patient relationships and exacerbate stress.
“Moving from ‘I lose, you win’ or ‘I win, you lose’ to ‘We both win’ or even ‘There’s no such thing as winning’ transforms conflict from a threat to a learning opportunity,” Dr. Morgan writes. “It acknowledges the natural diversity of perspectives and fosters an environment where understanding precedes solutions, and human connection transcends individual outcomes.”
The blog post offers several tools for managing conflict that would be helpful not only in difficult physician-patient communications, but in all communications. Check it out here.