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!
Virtually Amazing
The students we admit to the College of Medicine are the lifeblood of our education mission in Arkansas – and applicant interviews are crucial to the process of selecting the very best future physicians. Hats off to everyone who made our first-ever virtual medical school applicant interview day a great success last Saturday. Very special thanks to Tom South, Dr. Jeanne McLachlin and Tammy Henson in our Admissions Office, and IT team members James Arledge, Kevin Hollins, Ernie Bailey and Allen Finne.
Special thanks also to the 85 faculty members and 14 senior medical students who interviewed applicants and many other M2, M3 and M4 students who shared their insights about medical school, balancing study and personal life, and much more during three post-interview Q&A Zoom sessions led by Dr. McLachlin. Dr. Bobby McGehee facilitated a virtual orientation session for faculty interviewers, and Dr. James Graham led an orientation for applicants.
I join with Dr. Graham in expressing our gratitude to all who participated on Saturday, and to those who will contribute to the upcoming interview days on October 24, November 14 and January 9. We can still use more faculty interviewers for those sessions. Please sign up here. Your service is greatly appreciated, especially under the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic.
Spine in the Spotlight
A shout-out to the Neurosurgery and Orthopaedic Surgery faculty and Neurosurgery residents who recently hosted a very well received Virtual Spine Journal Club session for the Seattle Science Foundation – a well-recognized leading foundation for medical and surgical education. Organized by Dr. Noojan Kazemi, the session on “Patient Selection and Predicting Outcomes in Spine Surgery” was presented internationally to numerous institutions. The event featured article presentations by four residents, Drs. Patrick Paullus, Marcus Stephens, Natalie Guley and Matthew Helton. Dr. Kazemi moderated the discussion with the help of Drs. T. Glenn Pait, Richard McCarthy and David Bumpass. Nationally recognized leaders in spine surgery lauded the quality of article selection and the session overall, and UAMS has been invited to host again in the future.
Transplant Excellence
Congratulations to the kidney and heart transplant teams at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, which has just been designated as a Blue Cross and Blue Shield Blue Distinction Center for solid organ transplant. The designation, which recognizes excellence and expertise in transplant programs, is a first for the kidney transplant team, and the first in several years for the heart transplant program. I join with Drs. Rick Barr, Richard Blaszak and Paul Seib in thanking the many Arkansas Children’s, Pediatrics and Surgery faculty and staff whose hard work and dedication made this possible. Kudos to all.
New Textbook
Fathima Fijula Palot Manzil, M.D., Assistant Professor in the Nuclear Medicine Division of the Department of Radiology, is a co-author on the new edition of “Diagnostic Imaging: Nuclear Medicine,” being published this month by Elsevier. The chapters will also be available in STATdx, a comprehensive diagnostic radiology online support tool by Elsevier. Dr. Manzil is a cover author and wrote or co-wrote multiple chapters, lending her expertise to topics relating to nuclear medicine and PET-CT, including nuclear cardiology. Congratulations!