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!
Research Excellence Today & Tomorrow
The caliber of UAMS researchers today and in recent years, the quality of our research environment, and the potential for extraordinary research accomplishments in the years ahead have all been on display with recent developments.
First, it is my great pleasure to join with Dr. Nancy Rusch, Vice Dean for Research, to announce the launch of four inaugural “Creativity Hubs.” Each group will receive an investment of $300,000 over the next 18 months to grow collaborative and thematic research programs. The hubs will work to expand interdisciplinary research, plan programmatic grant proposals, strengthen workforce diversity, and mentor junior faculty and trainees in specific areas of research strength. These four initiatives were chosen from 23 applications submitted to the College of Medicine Research Office. Funding is being provided by the COM and the Office of the UAMS Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, led by Dr. Shuk-Mei Ho. Watch for more information in the March COMmunication e-newsletter.
Meanwhile, congratulations to the Creativity Hubs and leaders listed below, along with their colleagues:
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Co-led by Dr. Steven Barger and Dr. Paul Drew
Musculoskeletal Health & Disease
Led by Dr. Teresita Bellido
Lifespan Research to Improve Cardiovascular Health
Led by Dr. Elisabet Borsheim
Artificial Intelligence for Health
Led by Dr. Fred Prior
Also, you may have seen the UAMS news story last week about the more than 50 current and retired UAMS faculty who were listed among the top 2% of most influential researchers in a study by Stanford University. As Dr. Ho said in the article, “Our strong and supportive research environment is what allows investigators to achieve this kind of distinction and excellence.”
Bravo to all of our influential and impactful researchers!
Mask Mandate Insights
Researchers from the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health and College of Medicine collaborated with the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH), Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a project that showed how mask mandates in Arkansas school districts helped to limit COVID-19 at the schools. The research was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and was featured in a number of news reports. The College of Medicine’s Dr. Kanna Lewis (Family and Preventive Medicine), Dr. Franklin John Gray (Hospital Medicine) and Dr. Joseph Thompson (Pediatrics and ACHI President) were among the outstanding contributors to this important research. Read more in the UAMS Newsroom.
Gold Standard for Care
Congratulations to the College of Medicine faculty and many Arkansas Children’s team members who achieved accreditation from the Foundation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) for three areas at Arkansas Children’s. Kudos to the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology’s Dr. Arun Modi for his leadership on accreditation for hematopoietic cellular therapy accreditation and Dr. Suzanne Saccente and team for their successful efforts on accreditation for peripheral blood cellular therapy product collection. Kudos to the Department of Pathology’s Dr. Bobby Boyanton and Dr. Eric Rosenbaum for their achievement in cellular therapy processing with minimal manipulation in the blood bank. FACT designations are the gold standard for quality of care and place Arkansas Children’s in an elite group of pediatric hospitals across the country. Well done!
Five in a Day
Dr. Everett “Pat” Magann, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, recently had the pleasure of receiving notification of five acceptances for review articles in Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey in one day – the most in a single day in his 30-plus years in academic medicine. All of them were the result of scholarly collaborations with several students, residents, fellows, faculty colleagues and staff. Click here for a list of the articles and contributing UAMS team members. Congratulations Dr. Magann and team!
Matched!
Finally this week, very special congratulations to our graduating seniors on their fantastic results on Match Day last Friday. The pandemic clearly was “no match” for the tenacity of the Class of 2022! Kudos to our Academic Affairs and Graduate Medical Education teams for their outstanding work throughout this year’s National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) process, which also resulted in our own residency programs having a great Match this year. A shout-out as well to the UAMS AV Team for doing a great job with the off-campus livestream of the ceremony, which allowed some of our seniors to participate virtually and enabled more family and friends of our graduates, along with UAMS team members, to enjoy the event. In case you missed it, here are links to the ceremony video and the UAMS news story about the event and some of our fabulous seniors. You can click here to see where everyone is headed for their residency.