Congratulations to our 2022 Honorees!
I want to take a moment to congratulate all of the staff and faculty who were honored at the Dean’s Honor Day ceremony yesterday afternoon – and to again thank all COM team members for your contributions across our mission areas. This was my first Dean’s Honor Day, and it was amazing to hear about many of the ways our team members are making a difference. Watch for stories about our honorees in the May COMmunication and on the COM website later this month. Meanwhile, here is the video of the ceremony.
Shark Tank Success
First-year Ophthalmology resident Dr. Sayena Jabbehdari was one of three finalists in the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery’s international “Shark Tank” style Winning Pitch contest at the recent EYEcelerator in Washington, D.C. Selected from among 150 innovators, her idea for an optical transparent Extracellular Matrix for the treatment of the corneal epithelial defect ultimately took second place. Dr. Jabbehdari was the first resident and the first female to become a finalist in the history of the contest, competing against an established cornea surgeon who took first place and an established pediatric ophthalmologist and oculoplastic surgeon who came in third. Way to go Dr. Jabbehdari!
National Presentation
Senior medical student Katherine Wang will present her research along with Dr. Murat Gokden, neuropathologist and Professor in the Department of Pathology, at the upcoming American Association of Neuropathologists Annual meeting for the third consecutive year. Their work, “Primary Extra-axial Glioblastoma, IDH-wildtype, of the Spinal Nerve Root,” also will be published in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology. Dr. Gokden and Katherine collaborated with members of the Department of Neurosurgery on the paper. In July, Katherine will begin a combined residency/fellowship training program at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. Well done!
Child Neurology Well Represented
UAMS and Arkansas Children’s were well represented at the recent American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in Seattle, with a study by Assistant Professor Dr. Aravindhan Veerapandiyan, Child Neurology resident Dr. Praveen Ramani and former resident Dr. Ezgi Saylam as one of the top 10 platform sessions accepted as “Hot Topics in Headache Medicine.” Their ongoing study is in collaboration with sleep medicine specialist Dr. Supriya Jambhekar and entitled “Assessing Sleep Quality in Children with Migraines by Implementation of Electronic Health Record Cue.” Six other abstracts from UAMS were presented, with Neurology and Child Neurology residents Drs. Rebecca Pratt, Praveen Ramani, Nayana Prabhu and Shubham Biyani as first authors and several other residents and attending physicians as co-authors.
Party of the Century
A shout-out to Dr. Jeanne Wei, Professor and Chair of the Department of Geriatrics, and her team, who partnered with Presbyterian Village recently to honor eight resident centenarians. These inspiring women ranged in age from 100 to 103, and UAMS helped to tell their stories as part of the event held simultaneously at the retirement community and the Donald D. Reynolds Institute on Aging. Joining Dr. Wei at the retirement community for the celebration were Drs. Onna Lau, Priya Mendiratta, Anil Anandam and Denise Compton with the Walker Memory Center. Learn more about the event and the honorees in this UAMS news story. It will make you smile!
Most Influential Researchers
I had the pleasure of talking with Dr. Shuk-Mei Ho, UAMS Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, for the latest video in our Spotlight on Excellence series. Dr. Ho and I discussed the study by Stanford University that lists nearly 60 current and retired UAMS faculty among the top 2% of the world’s most influential researchers. Dr. Ho explained how the study came together and what having so many of our researchers on the list says about UAMS’ research enterprise as we strive to make our mark nationally. If you haven’t had a chance to watch our interview yet, check it out here. You can also read about the study in this UAMS news story. Congratulations to everyone on the list, and kudos to all of you who contribute to our research mission.