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!
Ensuring Good Doctors through NBME Service
The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) and the United States Medical Licensing Program (USMLE) are essential to our profession, ensuring the highest quality assessments of competencies relevant to medicine. The NBME depends on the expertise and service of medical school faculty from around the country to contribute to NBME exams and fulfill this mission. Each year, a number of our outstanding faculty serve on NBME or USMLE committees. I join with the NBME in expressing gratitude for our colleagues who served in 2022: Dr. James Graham, Professor of Pediatrics and Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Dr. Rachel Slotcavage, Assistant Professor of Surgery; Dr. Neil Masangkay, Associate Professor of Neurology; Dr. Tobias Vancil, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine; and Dr. Stacy Rudnicki, Adjunct Basic Science Professor in Neurology. Their service is noted in this letter from the NBME.
Spina Bifida Presentations
Pediatrics faculty members Dr. Laura Hobart-Porter, Associate Professor and Section Chief for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Dr. Rachel Millner, Assistant Professor in Pediatric Nephrology, presented three abstracts at the World Congress on Spina Bifida Research and Care in Tucson, Arizona. Dr. Hobart-Porter presented research conducted with coauthor Dr. Supriya Jambhekar, Professor in Pediatric Pulmonology: “Strategies to improve polysomnography access for children and adolescents with spina bifida: an implementation science approach.” This work was part of Dr. Hobart-Porter’s research as an Implementation Science Scholar, with mentorship from Dr. Geoffrey Curran and funding support from the UAMS Translational Research Institute. She also presented “Rates of autism in children with spina bifida higher than general population.” Dr. Millner presented “Prevalence of elevated blood pressure in a pediatric spinal cord disorders clinic,” which was done in collaboration with Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation resident Dr. Neha Anand.
Surgical Oncology Presenters
Dr. Michail Mavros, Assistant Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology, had one of the top abstracts submitted for the recent Society of Surgical Oncology meeting in Boston and was given the rare honor of presenting the research during the plenary session. His oral presentation discussed the use of extended venous thromboembolism prophylaxis after complex gastrointestinal cancer surgery. Also recently, Assistant Professor and Surgical Oncology Division Director Dr. Sonia Orcutt and Surgery resident Dr. Lauren Johnson presented a poster on the clinicopathologic features of colloid carcinoma at the Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association meeting in Miami.
Building Compassion for Patients with Rare Diseases
Congratulations to second-year medical students Melanie Beehler and Claire Peterson on being accepted into the 2023 RARE Compassion Program, a yearlong experience that helps medical students learn about the unique needs and challenges faced by patients and families living with an undiagnosed or rare disease. The international program connects students with patients virtually, to discuss how their rare disease diagnosis has impacted their lives. Kudos to Melanie and Claire for their commitment to the program’s goals of building compassion, understanding and communication skills for working with such patients, and to learning about medical specialties relevant to rare disease.