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!
Championing Colorectal Cancer Screening
The PiCS AR (Partnerships in Colorectal Cancer Screening – Arkansas) team is doing excellent work to improve colorectal cancer screening in Arkansas – and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) has taken notice. The Arkansas program is funded by a five-year grant from CRCCP awarded to the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Division of Community Health and Education, in 2020. This fall, the team created a poster presentation about their activities and progress in Northeast Arkansas and shared it at various training venues and conferences. Now, the national program has shared the poster with all 35 CRCCP-funded programs. Kudos to the PiCS AR team, which is led by Community Health and Education Director Alysia Dubriske, M.Ed., with special thanks to Marybeth Curtis, RN, BSN, PiCS AR Program Manager, who coauthored the poster with Stacey George, MSN, APRN, of the AFMC organization.
National Certifications for Total Hip and Total Knee
Congratulations to the Orthopaedic Surgery team on obtaining core certification for both total hip replacement and total knee replacement from the Joint Commission. The interprofessional team, led by Assistant Professor Dr. Jeffrey Stambough, underwent the rigorous appraisal process earlier this year. The review highlighted the program’s thorough preoperative education and online resources, collaboration with Anesthesia services for perioperative blocks to reduce pain, postoperative physical therapy within four hours of surgery, and the excellent rate of discharge to home for reconstruction patients. The certifications reflect the highest level of quality and safety in total hip and total knee replacement and are for a two-year period. Well done!
Inspiring Future Doctors and Health Professionals
A shout-out to Evan Hicks and Quincy Gragg and fellow students in the Edith Irby Jones Chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and from across campus who made a recent outreach event with high school students in Helena-West Helena a great success. About 100 juniors and seniors from Barton High School attended the Raising Exposure and Awareness of Careers in Health (REACH) event, which was sponsored by SNMA with support from the UAMS Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Evan, who chaired the event, and Quincy, who is President of the UAMS SNMA Chapter, organized the event in collaboration with additional members of the SNMA, the Student National Pharmacy Association and the Nurse Anesthesia program. The Helena-West Helena students learned about the personal journeys of some of our current medical students, took part in simulated medical procedures, and learned about health careers and pipeline programs from recruiting specialists from UAMS Regional Campuses. Read more in the UAMS Newsroom.
American Pediatric Society Members
Congratulations to Department of Pediatrics Professors Dr. Pete Mourani and Dr. Jessica Snowden on being named to the prestigious American Pediatric Society (APS). New APS members are nominated by current members through a process that recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves as child health leaders, teachers, scholars, policy makers and/or clinicians. Dr. Mourani, a Pediatric Pulmonary and Critical Care physician, serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Research Officer for Arkansas Children’s and President of the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute. Dr. Snowden is Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, Vice Dean for Research in the College of Medicine, and Principal Investigator for the IDeA States Pediatric Network Data Coordinating and Operations Center.
Required EM Reading
An article co-authored by Dr. Michael Wilson, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, will be required reading for emergency physicians nationwide who want to maintain their board certification. Dr. Wilson’s article, “Consensus Recommendations on the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in the Emergency Department,” was published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine in 2021. The article has been selected by the American Board of Emergency Medicine for inclusion in the 2024 EM Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment (LLSA) Reading List. LLSA articles are highly relevant to the specialty and represent the most important information emergency physicians need to keep up with advances in medicine.
Putting Patients First
Anesthesiology resident Dr. Usman “Uzi” Hyder was on the Labor and Delivery floor to place an epidural recently – and ended up delivering the baby himself! It happened as a patient was getting into position for her epidural, and labor progressed much more precipitously than was expected. The baby arrived before obstetricians and pediatricians could get there, so Dr. Hyder stepped in, completed the delivery and kept mom and baby safe. Thank you, Dr. Hyder, for going above and beyond the role of an anesthesiologist and taking great care of a patient in an urgent situation.