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.
Best Hospital – and More
It was wonderful to hear that U.S. News & World Report has named UAMS as a 2024-2025 Best Hospital, and that nine treatments or procedures were designated as “high performing.” The areas are colon cancer surgery; heart failure; hip fracture; hip replacement; knee replacement; leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma; lung cancer surgery; pneumonia; and stroke. You may recall that last month, U.S. News named UAMS Medical Center as a Best Regional Hospital for Equitable Access.
These distinctions are the result of the UAMS clinical leadership team headed by Dr. Michelle Krause, Senior Vice Chancellor for UAMS Health and Chief Executive Officer for UAMS Medical Center, and the dedication of team members across many disciplines. In the College of Medicine, we are grateful to the physicians and myriad other health professionals across UAMS for making our academic medical center an outstanding place for patients, students, residents, fellows and colleagues. Read more in the UAMS Newsroom.
Improving Treatment of Pediatric Epilepsy
Dr. Debopam Samanta, Professor of Pediatric Neurology and Medical Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at Arkansas Children’s, led a group of 15 experts in a review of the existing evidence and recommendations for treatments for drug-resistant epilepsy, with the goal of bridging the largely adult-focused data to improve pediatric care. This major undertaking by the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium, for which Dr. Samanta is the local Principal Investigator, has now been published in Epilepsy Research. The article focuses on electrical stimulation of the thalamus through deep brain stimulation (DBS) and responsive neurostimulation (RNS). While these techniques have been approved for use in adults, their application in pediatric epilepsy has remained limited. However, Arkansas Children’s is now offering these groundbreaking techniques through its Epilepsy Program. Dr. Gregory Albert, Professor of Neurosurgery and Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery, also was a coauthor.
Top 10 Dermatopathology Paper
Dr. Sara Shalin, Professor of Pathology and Dermatology and Chair of the Department of Dermatology, was a co-author of an article that has become one of the top 10 most-cited papers published in the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, the leading journal in its field, in recent years. The March 2022 article reports evidence-based recommendations for a wide range of ancillary diagnostic testing in dermatopathology from the Appropriate Use Committee within the American Society of Dermatopathology. Dr. Shalin has served on the committee since 2018, contributing special expertise in melanoma pathogenesis, inflammatory skin diseases and other cutaneous malignancies.
National Neuropathology Meeting
UAMS had a strong presence at the American Association of Neuropathologists (AANP) annual meeting with presentations and other contributions from Department of Pathology neuropathologists Dr. Murat Gokden, Professor, and Dr. Stephen Nix, Assistant Professor. Both presented research stemming from institutional and national collaborations. Third-year resident Dr. Hannah Cutshall and rising M2 student Hallie Samuel both presented posters on hematolymphoid lesions of the central nervous system, and Dr. Cutshall received an AANP trainee award for her presentation. The meeting marked the 100th anniversary of the AANP. Dr. Gokden served on the planning committee for historical and archival material in addition to other roles with the AANP including councilor to the International Society of Neuropathology, member-at-large to the executive council and a member of the website committee.