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.

Neuromodulation Strategies for Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome
Dr. Debopam Samanta, Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Director of the Level 4 Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Arkansas Children’s, is the lead and primary author on an important new article providing the first clinical guidelines for neuromodulation therapies to treat one of the most severe forms of epilepsy. Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is often resistant to seizure medications, and while emerging research suggests neuromodulation therapies can be an effective alternative, selecting and managing the appropriate neuromodulation therapy has remained challenging. The guidelines from Dr. Samanta and colleagues in the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium (PERC) were published in Epilepsy Research.

American Cancer Society Fellowship
Congratulations to Dr. Jessica Kelliher, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, on receiving a highly competitive fellowship award from the American Cancer Society (ACS). Dr. Kelliher will use the $217,500, three-year award for a research project aimed at exploiting DNA repair in cell therapy for solid tumors, in the lab of her mentor, Assistant Professor Dr. Brian Koss. Dr. Alan Tackett, Distinguished Professor and Executive Associate Dean for Research in the College of Medicine, is a co-mentor. The grant is the second ever ACS fellowship awarded to a UAMS postdoctoral fellow, following the 2022 ACS fellowship award to Dr. Kirk West.

American Heart Association Fellowship
Congratulations to Dr. Rami Shahror, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, on receiving a prestigious American Heart Association fellowship. The $176,020 award will support his work for the next two years. Dr. Shahror is investigating the role of myeloid HDAC3 enzyme in retinal neurovascular injury with his mentor, Assistant Professor Dr. Abdel Fouda, and co-mentor Dr. Nancy Rusch, Distinguished Professor and Chair. The project aims to identify new therapies for diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults, by targeting the enzyme histone deacetylase 3 in immune cells.

National Neurology Recognitions
A shout out to Dr. Abhilash Thatikala, PGY-4 resident and Academic Chief Resident in the Department of Neurology, on his recent national honors including being named to the Editorial Board of Clinical Neuroimaging, the journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging. Dr. Thatikala also has been awarded a highly competitive scholarship to attend the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in San Diego in April. In addition to having travel and attendance costs covered, he will participate in special programs for scholarship recipients. Both honors reflect Dr. Thatikala’s quickly growing stature in the field.

Emergency Medicine Residents on a Roll
Our Emergency Medicine residents are on a roll this year with honors and presentations at national and international conferences. Most recently, PGY2 resident Dr. Brian Slayyeh received the highly competitive Michael Spadafora Travel Award from the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) to attend the annual scientific meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, in April. He will present a poster on snakebite antivenom adverse events. PGY3 Dr. Brooke Yasgur also will be presenting a case report in Vancouver, as well as at the Annual Congress of the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists in Glasgow, Scotland, in May. This past fall, PGY2 Dr. Jack Sudduth presented an abstract at the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization annual meeting in Detroit.  Congratulations to all.

Question of the Day App
Dr. Khushboo Verma, PGY-4 resident and Administrative Chief Resident in the Department of Neurology, is helping neurologists, trainees and medical students around the world through the popular “Question of the Day” (QOD) app offered by the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Verma is serving on the app’s workgroup alongside Dr. Humaira Khan, Assistant Professor and Program Director for the Neurology Residency. The workgroup is exclusive, comprising eight experienced neurologists and their respective mentees. Following a monthly curriculum, the QOD app provides continuing medical education (CME) to national and international neurologists, fellows and residents, as well as a separate track of questions for medical students.

Podcast Features BioVentures Initiatives
The UAMS BioVentures Podcast continues to showcase promising initiatives supported by the technology transfer office, including the three UAMS research teams that received inaugural AR Health Ventures Accelerator (ARHVA) awards last year. The Jan. 10 episode featured an interview with Dr. Gyan Sahukhal, Assistant Staff Scientist in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and his project to target biofilm regulators when treating staph infection. Dr. Samir Jenkins, Research Instructor in Radiation Oncology, kicked off the ARHVA series in October with his project focusing on a new approach to chemotherapy using liposomes. Another episode featured Dr. Mitch McGill, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences in the College of Public Health, and his project to develop new biomarkers to detect liver injury. You can catch all episodes of the BioVentures Podcast here.

Medicaid Expansion & the Marshallese
UAMS Northwest Regional Campus senior medical student Robert Brand is the first author on a recently published study into the impact of Medicaid expansion for the Marshallese population served by the UAMS North Street Clinic. The study, published in the Journal of Regional Medical Campuses, demonstrated a significant increase in the use of health care services by previously uninsured Marshallese patients in 2021-2022, following the expansion. The findings could aid policymakers in designing and implementing strategies for increasing access and utilization in target populations. Coauthors included UAMS faculty members Dr. Sheena CarlLee, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, and Dr. Hanna Jensen, Assistant Professor of Surgery.

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.

Breakthroughs in Medicine
UAMS and Arkansas Children’s Research Institute clinician scientists were integral in two of the seven “breakthroughs that changed medicine in 2024” highlighted in a retrospective article published by National Geographic in December.

One of the breakthroughs was the development of “partial heart transplants” to provide lifesaving replacement heart valves that will continue to grow with infants who are born with faulty heart valves. Dr. Taufiek Konrad Rajab, Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery, pioneered the procedure. His collaborative work with coauthors at Duke University was published in JAMA last January.

National Geographic also noted the FDA approval of the drug Omalizumab to reduce the risks posed by life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. The approval stemmed from the work of Dr. Stacie Jones and Dr. Amy Scurlock, Professors in the Department of Pediatrics Section of Allergy and Immunology, and their peers in the NIH Consortium for Food Allergy Research. The Omalizumab trial was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February.

Congratulations to these outstanding faculty members and their research teams!

Distinguished Service Award
Congratulations to Dr. Alan Diekman, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Urology, on being selected to receive the 2025 Distinguished Service Award from the American Society of Andrology (ASA). Dr. Diekman is nationally recognized for his research into the molecular mechanisms of reproductive biology and has been active in the ASA for over two decades. He has served in numerous leadership roles and as ASA Treasurer coauthored the organization’s five-year strategic plan in 2021. He will be recognized in a March 30 ceremony at the annual conference of the ASA and the International Society of Andrology (ISA). 

National Family Medicine Programs
A shout-out to Family and Preventive Medicine Assistant Professors Dr. Lauren Gibson-Oliver and Dr. Rachael Goodwin, who have been selected to participate in faculty development programs sponsored by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) in 2025. Dr. Gibson-Oliver, Program Director of the UAMS Little Rock Family Medicine Residency, will participate in the STFM Emerging Leaders Fellowship. Dr. Goodwin, who practices and teaches at the UAMS North Central Campus in Batesville, has been chosen for the STFM New Faculty Scholars Program.

Clinical Documentation Stars
Kudos to Dr. Katy Marino, Associate Professor in the Division of Thoracic Surgery, and Dr. Stephen King, Assistant Professor in Family and Preventive Medicine, who were recently named Chart Champion Stars by the UAMS Medical Center Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) team. Dr. Marino was recognized for her detailed, well-explained query responses that “vastly improve the DRG assignments for her patients and accuracy in coding and billing.” The CDI team noted that Dr. King frequently contacts coding specialists to provide polite, personable feedback and rationale for codes he is dropping, and that he helps to “improve understanding of the standpoints between the physicians and the coders.” Both were highlighted in the November-December Chart Champions newsletter. 

Mobile Vision Screening Hits the Road
A shout-out to the Department of Ophthalmology on the successful rollout of the new GoVision mobile vision screening unit. As Professor and Chair Dr. Paul Phillips notes in this UAMS news story, the initiative is poised to significantly improve vision care access for children and adults across Arkansas. UAMS received a grant from the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas to support the program. Special thanks to resident Dr. Zain Chauhan, who was the lead grant writer, along with resident Dr. Abdel Elhusseiny and Professor Dr. Ahmed Sallam, for their work on the initiative. Kudos also to Shelli Madison, Sajida Chauhan, Megan Brown and Angela Johnson, and to residents Dr. Alex Kwok and Dr. Joshua Shin, who joined Dr. Chauhan for the inaugural screening event at the Huda Academy in Little Rock.

National Behavioral Neurology Leadership
Dr. Anthony Davis, Associate Professor of Neurology, has been elected Vice Chair of the Behavioral Neurology Section of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). His two-year term will start in April. The election is a wonderful recognition of Dr. Davis’ national stature in the field. Kudos to Dr. Davis as well for his ongoing work to expand behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry services at UAMS.

CMS Expert Panel Appointment
Dr. Stephen Foster, Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine (DFPM) at the UAMS Northeast Regional Campus in Jonesboro, has been selected to serve on the Technical Expert Panel (TEP) for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM) Development and Maintenance for Eligible Clinicians project. At UAMS, Dr. Foster also serves as Director of the DFPM Office of Digital Health and as Medical Director of Population Health for the Primary Care and Population Health Service Line. As a member of the TEP, he will join with other experts and stakeholders to provide input on the prioritization and development of eCQMs that support CMS’ quality program goals.

Editorial Board Appointment
Dr. Josh Kennedy, Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Allergy and Immunology Section, will lend his expertise as a member of the Editorial Board of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, for the next two years. Dr. Kennedy’s research has focused extensively on the intersection of asthma and the effects of the common cold virus, as well as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Last year, he received a $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to lead a five-year study to help clarify the viral and host factors that lead to severe disease in children infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Prestigious Echocardiography Accreditation
The UAMS Cardiac Noninvasive Laboratory has received accreditation for adult transesophageal, stress and transthoracic echocardiography from the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC). As Dr. Paul Mounsey, Professor and Director of the Cardiology Division in the Department of Internal Medicine, notes in this UAMS news story, the prestigious accreditation is a testament to the hard work, dedication and excellence of the entire cardiac noninvasive team. Special thanks to Dr. Srikanth Vallurupalli, Associate Professor and Medical Director, and Randi Booker, MHA, Manager and Technical Director of the lab.

Student Travel Award, Research Honor
Congratulations to second-year medical student Grace Turbyfill on her recent research honors, including a prestigious travel award from the Medical Toxicology Foundation to attend the American College of Medical Toxicology annual meeting in Vancouver, B.C., in April. She also has been invited to do an oral presentation at the Southern Society for Pediatric Research/Southern Regional Meeting in New Orleans in February. Her research, completed as part of our Pediatric Honors Program, focused on evaluating the impact of a simplified treatment regimen for acetaminophen toxicity. Dr. Erica Liebelt, Professor and Medical and Research Director for Pharmacology and Toxicology in the Section of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Pharmacology and Toxicology, is Grace’s program mentor.

Graduate School Celebrates Students and Mentors
The scientific achievements of students and contributions of their faculty mentors were in the spotlight at the recent UAMS Graduate School Winter Awards Reception. Outstanding Achievement Awards were presented to M.D./Ph.D. student Amie Brint and graduate students Katherine Deck, Christian Mitchell and Dakota Redling. Excellence in Mentoring Awards went to their mentors, respectively: Dr. Robert Griffin, Professor of Radiation Oncology; Dr. Shengyu Mu, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology; Dr. Abdel Fouda, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology; and Dr. Kimberly Stephens, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. Many other students received Achievement Awards or were recognized for other accomplishments, and several additional faculty members received Mentor Awards. Read more in the UAMS Newsroom.

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.

Transformative Initiative Earns Advocacy Award
Congratulations to Dr. Kapil Arya, Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Section of Pediatric Neurology, on being selected to receive the 2025 Viste Patient Advocate of the Year Award from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). Dr. Arya, who directs the Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and spasticity programs at Arkansas Children’s, will be honored at the AAN annual meeting in April for his outstanding work with SMA, including his leadership to implement statewide newborn screening for the rare disease.

If not detected and treated within a few weeks of birth, SMA can be debilitating and often fatal. The Arkansas General Assembly enacted a law requiring newborn screening for SMA in 2019, but a complex system was still needed for the screening to become routine across the state. Dr. Arya developed the system as a UAMS Translational Research Institute Implementation Science Scholar in the UAMS Center for Implementation Research in 2020. (Read more about this transformative initiative in this UAMS news story.) In addition to receiving the AAN award, Dr. Arya will present the AAN’s priorities to congressional lawmakers as part of the “Neurology on the Hill” advocacy program in 2025.

Award Honors Service in Respiratory Care
Dr. Ariel Berlinski, Professor of Pediatrics in the Section of Pediatric Pulmonology, received the 2024 Albert H. Andrews Jr, M.D., Award from the National Board of Respiratory Care (NBRC). The annual award recognizes a physician who has contributed significantly to the development of respiratory care and the organizations supporting the profession. Dr. Berlinski has served as a consultant for the neonatal-pediatric certification issued by the NBRC for the past 17 years. At Arkansas Children’s, Dr. Berlinski serves as Medical Director of the Pulmonary Diagnostic Laboratory, Medical Director of Respiratory Care Services, and Director of the Arkansas Children’s Cystic Fibrosis Center. Dr. Berlinski also directs the Pediatric Aerosol Research Laboratory at Arkansas Children’s Research Institute.

Hypertension Control Champions
Congratulations to Dr. Tabasum Imran, Medical Director of UAMS’ Fort Smith Family Medical Center, and team on being designated as a 2024 Hypertension Control Champion by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as part of the agency’s Million Hearts Campaign. The national initiative recognizes clinicians, practices and health systems that have achieved blood pressure control for at least 80% of their patients with hypertension. Dr. Imran, an Associate Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine, also serves as Assistant Service Line Director for Quality in the Primary Care and Population Health Service Line. Clinical Services Manager Brenda Morris and Quality Improvement Coordinator Virginia King also had essential roles in the clinic becoming one of only two in Arkansas to achieve the designation. 

National Honor in Bioethics
A shout-out to Dr. Micah Hester, Professor and Chair of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, on his election as a Fellow of the Hastings Center, the premier interdisciplinary professional organization and research institute in the field of bioethics. Hastings Center Fellows are recognized as leaders in areas of global importance in bioethics, and whose work has informed scholarship and public understanding of complex ethical issues in health, health care, science and technology. As a leading expert in “pragmatic bioethics,” Dr. Hester has written and lectured extensively on the ethics of patient-professional relationships and end-of-life issues. The Hastings Fellow election was just the latest honor for Dr. Hester. In September, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.

Championing Women in the Thyroid Field
Dr. Spyridoula Maraka, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, has been named Chair-Elect of the American Thyroid Association’s Women in Thyroidology. The organization works to address the unique challenges of women in the field, promote gender equity in the thyroidology workforce, and celebrate the achievements and contributions of women advancing thyroid research and clinical care. Dr. Maraka is an internationally recognized expert in thyroid disease. She also currently serves on an expert panel that develops clinical practice guidelines for the Endocrine Society. At UAMS, she serves as Program Director for the Endocrinology Fellowship.

Anesthesiology Diversity Teaching Initiative Earns Grant
Department of Anesthesiology Professor Dr. Faiza Khan and Assistant Professor Dr. Michelle Tenorio have been awarded a Diversity Mentoring Grant from the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). The grant will support an initiative to develop an objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) to teach learners behavioral skills related to communication challenges and diversity, equity and inclusion topics. The ASA grants are aimed at fostering diversity within the anesthesiology community through mentorship-focused projects involving research, education, political advocacy or an organized medicine endeavor.

Supplement Guest Editor
Dr. Bobby Boyanton, Professor of Pathology and Chief of Pathology at Arkansas Children’s, shared his expertise as guest editor for a supplement in the Journal of Infectious Diseases focusing on laboratory and point-of-care diagnostics for pharyngitis. Dr. Boyanton was the first author or lead author on three reviews covering the topics of emerging and remerging pharyngitis pathogens; current laboratory and point-of-care pharyngitis diagnostic testing and knowledge gaps; and diagnostic potential for collaborative pharyngitis biomarkers.  

Military Match
Congratulations to our medical students who matched to programs in the U.S. Military Match last week as the next step in their service to our nation and the field of medicine. They include Andrew Brown, who will train in ophthalmology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and Luke Livingston, who will train in family medicine at Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida. We are all thankful to them and all our military students for their commitment to service. Meanwhile, most of our seniors will have to wait until next March 21, when the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) culminates in Match Day 2025, to learn their match location. We’re rooting for you all!

CPR Teaching Initiative Earns Prestigious Award
Dr. Steve Schexnayder, Professor and Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, was part of a team receiving a special honor at the American Heart Association’s recent Resuscitation Science Symposium in Chicago. The Ian G. Jacobs Award for International Group Collaboration to Advance Resuscitation Science recognizes international collaborations that have resulted in major contributions to fundamental or clinical science related to cardiac arrest or traumatic injury. The team’s long-running “Kids Save Lives” project has promoted CPR training in schools around the world, and the group recently published a scientific statement on the value of teaching CPR in schools. Commissioned by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, the statement was published in the journal Resuscitation.

In Arkansas, Dr. Schexnayder led an effort to begin teaching CPR at Little Rock Central High School in 2013, using UAMS medical students as instructors to teach about 600 teens each year. The program continues today as part of the required health class curriculum. Several former medical students who were part of those initial efforts are now on our faculty, including Dr. Daniel Bingham and Dr. David Fitzgerald in Anesthesiology and Dr. Garrett Williams in Pediatrics. Congratulations to Dr. Schexnayder, and kudos to all who have participated in this initiative.

Journal Guest Editor
Dr. Jill Mhyre, Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology, served as the Guest Editor for a special themed issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia this month focusing on quality and safety in obstetric anesthesia. Dr. Mhyre, who is the section editor for the topic on the journal’s editorial board, also recorded podcasts to accompany the issue and will lead a webinar on quality and safety in obstetric anesthesia in January. Interestingly, the cover of the issue features a reinterpretation of a masterpiece by Gustav Klimt, “Hope II,” that evokes the risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth while also signifying the efforts of health care providers to keep women safe.     

Multiple System Atrophy Center of Excellence
A shout-out to Dr. Tuhin Virmani, Associate Professor of Neurology and Director of the Movement Disorders Program, Neurology Chair Dr. Rohit Dhall, and colleagues on being selected as a 2025 Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) Center of Excellence by Mission MSA. The renewal of the designation for UAMS reflects the ongoing dedication to providing the best possible multidisciplinary care, support services and clinical trials opportunities for individuals and families affected by MSA. Along with Dr. Virmani and Dr. Dhall, the Movement Disorders team includes Dr. Hillary Williams, Dr. Aditya Boddu and APRNs Rachel Sloan and Tim Paslay.

International Otology Teaching
Dr. John Dornhoffer, Professor and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, is sharing his expertise at several presentations, panel discussions and other sessions at the 8^th Munich Hearing Implant Symposium in Germany this week. Dr. Dornhoffer is internationally renowned for his expertise in cochlear implantation and other areas of otology. In addition to presenting at events conducted in English, he will be teaching a number of lab sessions in German.

Novel Method for Identifying Infection
Robert Brand and Caroline Geels, seniors at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, collaborated with the University of Arkansas Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington Regional Medical Center and others on a small trial for a novel spectroscopy method to determine whether synovial (joint) fluid is infected. The team’s encouraging preliminary findings into the use of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were recently published in the Journal of Biophotonics. Dr. Hanna Jensen, Assistant Professor of Surgery, also was on the research team and mentored Robert and Caroline.   

Career Service Awards
Congratulations to the many College of Medicine and UAMS team members who were recognized for their years of service this week. It was an honor to join with Chancellor Cam Patterson and other UAMS leaders to recognize employees with 20-plus years of service at a ceremony on Tuesday. The celebration continued this afternoon with a reception for those with 5, 10 and 15 years of service.

Three UAMS team members were recognized for their incredible 50 years of service, including College of Medicine faculty Dr. Linda McGhee and Dr. James Suen. Dr. McGhee, an Associate Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, has inspired countless residents and students through her teaching, mentorship and devotion to patients. Dr. Suen, a Distinguished Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, chaired the department for 43 years and co-founded what is now the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

The Department of Neurology’s Gwenn Higginbotham marked her 45^th year at UAMS this year, and COM team members Rhonda Anthony, Selma Chandler, Dr. William Golden, Anjacnette Harris, Jannetta Palmer, Michele Perry, Tom South and Dr. Joanne Szabo all earned their 40-year pins. Many others aren’t far behind, so I encourage you to take a moment to check out the lists of honorees on the Employee Service Awards website. (Please note that team members may be included under institutes and other units besides the COM.)

Thank you all for your service through the years, and in the years to come. We couldn’t do it without you.

Important Statistical Concepts – Simplified
The NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare and USDA National Agricultural Library invited Dr. Reid Landes, Professor of Biostatistics, to explain basic statistical concepts of experimental design and statistical analysis of animal experiments at the 11th Annual 3Rs Symposium: Practical Approaches to Each of the 3Rs. His excellent talk, “Think big, not small, to reduce N overall” covers two common scenarios in animal experiments: experiments with same-group cage-mates and replicating experiments for reproducibility’s sake. For each scenario, Dr. Landes provides a practical question and fact to consider when developing, or when reviewing, animal experiments.  

Geriatrics Research in Spotlight
Department of Geriatrics faculty, trainees and medical students presented 10 abstracts and took home honors at the recent annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America in Seattle. Presidential Poster Awards went to postdoctoral fellow Dr. Pankaj Patyal and colleagues for “Cardiac overexpression of serum response factor alters mitochondrial structure and function,” and to postdoctoral fellow Dr. Ambika Verma and colleagues for “P. gingivalis-LPS promotes AD/ADRD via Caspase-4-Mediated Noncanonical Inflammasome Pathway.” Medical students Lauren Camp, Riley Swafford, Esther Park and Milenko Petrovic were coauthors on three abstracts presented at the meeting.

Consult-Liaison Psychiatry National Conference
The Department of Psychiatry was well represented at the recent Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry annual conference in Miami. Third-year residents Dr. Molly Wootten, Dr. Christopher Parrill and Dr. Catey May-Martin presented posters. Dr. Wooten won the Best Case Report award for “Hard Choices: A Case of Antipsychotic Induced Priapism in Treatment Resistant Schizoaffective Disorder with Recurrent Catatonia.” Faculty members and Psychiatric Research Institute consult-liaison physicians Dr. Payton Lea, Dr. Samidha Tripathi and Dr. Amy Grooms also attended. Dr. Tripathi joined with collaborators from four other institutions to present a pre-conference skills course, “C-L Admin 101: What every CL psychiatrist should know.”

A Toast to Great Communicators!
Communication skills are important to the professional success of both future and practicing physicians. Many of our students are honing their skills in speaking, presenting and leadership as members of Confident Communicators, the Toastmasters Club for students at UAMS. Medical students Melanie Beehler, Quincy Gragg and Harrison Jenkins did a great job discussing the benefits and their experiences with the club as members of a panel at the Toastmasters International Summit held at Philander Smith University in Little Rock in November. And congratulations to Sharanda Williams, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, who received the Director’s Choice Award at the conference for her outstanding service to District 43 Toastmasters. Sharanda is a member of Bridge Builders, the Toastmasters club for UAMS staff.

Top Doctors
Finally this week, congratulations to the many faculty physicians who were named to the 2024 Castle Connolly Top Doctors list, published this month in Arkansas Times. The list includes outstanding College of Medicine physicians who practice at locations including UAMS Medical Center, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System and Baptist Health. UAMS is always a strong presence on the list, and this year is no exception. Kudos to all for your dedication to providing world-class clinical care along with your service in education, research and service to communities across the state.

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.

Newly Invested
Congratulations to Dr. Ashley Acheson, Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry, on his investiture in the Wilbur D. Mills Distinguished Chair in Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Prevention last week. Dr. Acheson, a behavioral neuroscientist, joined UAMS in 2016. He is highly regarded for his research into the behavioral and biological factors underlying risk for addictions, and for his work on child brain development and how early-life influences promote risk and resilience for addictions and other psychopathology. Read more in the UAMS Newsroom.

Chancellor’s Awards of Excellence
Congratulations to the five UAMS faculty who received Chancellor’s Awards of Excellence at the Town Hall yesterday, including the College of Medicine’s Dr. Stacie Jones and Dr. Shashank Kraleti. Dr. Jones, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Center for Food Allergy Research, received the Chancellor’s Award for Scholarship. She was recognized for her pioneering translational research into food allergies, mentorship and many other contributions over three decades on the faculty. Dr. Kraleti, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and Director of the Primary Care & Population Health Service Line, received the Chancellor’s Award for Clinical Innovation. He was honored for his collaborative work with the Office of Patient Experience and others to create Patient and Family Advisory Councils in 16 UAMS clinics across the state. Watch for an Inside UAMS story soon.

AAMC Section Chair
Dr. Karina Clemmons, Assistant Dean of Medical Education and Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, has been appointed Chair of the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) Section of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Educational Affairs (GEA). Dr. Clemmons, who will serve for the next two years, brings extensive experience and dedication to advancing medical education across the continuum. Her leadership aims to strengthen collaboration and innovation within the UME Section, leading impactful initiatives and supporting the professional growth of medical educators nationwide. Kudos to Dr. Clemmons for her service nationally and at UAMS.

ACNC Turns 30
A shout-out to the team in the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center (ACNC), which celebrated its 30^th anniversary with an Oct. 29 symposium. The event included esteemed speakers from key national stakeholders in nutrition and agriculture including U.S. Sen. John Boozman and representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health. Professor Emeritus Dr. Thomas Badger, who founded the ACNC in 1994, provided a historical overview. ACNC faculty members Drs. Aline Andres, Taren Massey-Swindle, Craig Porter and Elisabet Børsheim were among the presenters. Special thanks to Dr. Børsheim, ACNC Interim Director, who led the event. Read more on the ACNC website.

International Panel on Autism Spectrum Disorder
Dr. Terry Harville, Professor of Pathology and Internal Medicine, will lend his expertise to the BRAIN Foundation’s Delphi Initiative on Behavioral Exacerbation’s in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The initiative was launched because of the crucial need for improving the identification, recognition and management of disabling behavioral exacerbations in people with ASD. Dr. Harville is one of 30 leading national and international experts on ASD invited to join the effort to develop guidance on the most appropriate clinical assessment tools and measures. 

Student-led Paper Documents Successful Initiative
A shout-out to senior medical student Ben Moore, who spearheaded a study into a rise in ICU readmissions in the trauma population at UAMS during 2014-2021 and the successful measures that turned the trend around. The study has just been published in the Journal of Surgical Research. Dr. Hanna Jensen, Assistant Professor of Surgery, was senior author. The article documents how UAMS clinical teams were able to push trauma readmissions well below the national average post-COVID. Kudos to all who made this possible, and congratulations to Ben and colleagues on the publication.

Prestigious Travel Award
Congratulations to M.D./Ph.D. student Catherine Kirkpatrick on receiving a highly competitive travel award for the 2025 Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School program sponsored by the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). Catherine was one of three graduate students, postdocs or residents worldwide selected for the award to attend the program in Austin, Texas, next February. Catherine is conducting research into the mechanisms of T cell exhaustion in the tumor microenvironment with her Ph.D. mentor, Dr. Y. William Lu, Assistant Professor of Pathology. Catherine and other awardees are featured on the SITC website.

ENT Academic Bowl Champs
The UAMS and Arkansas Children’s team took home first place in the Academic Bowl, a test of knowledge for residents and students, at the recent Society for Ear, Nose and Throat Advances in Children (SENTAC) Annual Meeting. The team included Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery fourth-year resident Dr. Courtney Hunter, Clinical Research Fellow Dr. Peter Eckard, and College of Health Professions Audiology student Braidyn Milner. The team was supported by APRNs Kayla Nevala, Caitlin Jackson and Alison Garner, who also presented their work on the ACH Frenulotomy Clinic at the meeting. Dr. Hunter presented on tracheostomy education. Way to go, team!

12^th Street Student Research in the Spotlight
College of Medicine students are doing fantastic work on behalf of the UAMS 12^th Street Health and Wellness Center. Several students presented research at the Society of Student-Run Free Clinics (SSRFC) annual conference in Philadelphia this fall, sharing their clinic-driven observations about a wide range of issues relating to the health and medical care of underserved patients. Presenters included COM students Melanie Beehler, Phoebe Bruffett, Sydney Darling, Sarah Hall, Savannah Hickman, Linh-Chi Ho, Aaron Rieth, Haya Safar, Brittany Tian, Viraj Vora, Michael Ward and Margaret Woodruff.

While those students were in Philadelphia, Elizabeth (Jade) Dorman presented on behalf of a team project, “Implementation of a Novel Student-Led Mobile Clinic for Uninsured Arkansans,” at the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin Arkansas Chapter meeting, where it received the Best Quality Improvement Poster Award. (Click here for a list of the 12^th Street presentations.) Also recently, 12^th Street’s pop-up community health clinics were featured in a KATV news segment. Great job, everyone!

Newly Invested
Congratulations to Dr. Corey Montgomery, Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, on his investiture in the Richard W. Nicholas, M.D., and Corey O. Montgomery, M.D., Chair in Orthopaedic Oncology last week. Dr. Montgomery, who specializes in malignant and benign tumors of the bone and soft tissues in both adults and children, is the only fellowship-trained orthopaedic oncologist practicing in Arkansas.

Dr. Montgomery’s co-namesake on the endowed chair, Dr. Richard Nicholas, is a Professor Emeritus who served on the faculty for over 30 years and was Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery in 2005-2013. Dr. Nicholas and Dr. Montgomery have been instrumental in building orthopaedic oncology services in Arkansas, and their dedication inspired the philanthropic contributions from patients, families, alumni, former trainees and colleagues that made the chair possible. Dr. Nicholas was invested as the inaugural holder in 2016. Learn more in this UAMS news story.

Arkansas Health Impact Honorees
The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) honored two longtime College of Medicine faculty members, Dr. G. Richard Smith and Dr. Linda McGhee, as the 2024 recipients of the Dr. Tom Bruce Arkansas Health Impact Award. The ACHI board recognized Dr. Smith for his transformative leadership in Psychiatry and in key roles including College of Medicine Dean and UAMS Executive Vice Chancellor in 2013-2015 and more recently as Interim Dean. He also served as the Founding Director of ACHI. Dr. McGhee, an Associate Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine, has served as an outstanding physician and impactful educator at the UAMS Family Medical Center and UAMS Northwest Campus in Fayetteville since 1978.

As many of you know, the namesake of the award, the late Dr. Tom Bruce, was Dean of the College of Medicine for more than a decade and a pioneer in community-based public health. Congratulations to Dr. Smith and Dr. McGhee on these well-earned honors. Read more in this ACHI news release.

Neurosurgery Editorial Board
Dr. Analiz Rodriguez, Associate Professor, Director of Neurosurgical Oncology and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Neurosurgery, has been elected to serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery. Standing members of the board for the journal of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) vote on new members, who serve for five years and advance through leadership positions culminating in Associate Editor in their final year. Dr. Rodriguez’s expertise in neurosurgical oncology and leadership on national initiatives to reduce disparities in cancer research will make her a strong asset on the board.

Opioid-Focused Smartphone App Earns Honors
A smartphone app developed at UAMS to reduce opioid misuse took home the Silver Award in the Apps & Software-Health/Fitness/Wellness Division at the Vega Digital Awards competition. The “OptiMAT” (Optimizing Medication Assisted Treatment) app was developed with support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) by Department of Psychiatry faculty members Dr. Andrew James, Dr. Ronald Thompson and Dr. Mary Bollinger. The UAMS team collaborated with Enqbator, a digital solutions firm. OptiMAT’s features include daily monitoring of mood and craving, personalized feedback, and GPS-driven “just-in-time” intervention to prevent opioid relapse.

NICU Initiative Published in Pediatrics
A successful initiative at UAMS to reduce the amount of blood drawn from premature infants for lab tests was recently published in Pediatrics. First author Dr. Megha Sharma, Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics Division of Neonatology, led the project in the UAMS Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as part of the Translational Research Institute’s Implementation Scholars Program. The work is crucial, because blood loss from repetitive lab tests has been shown to be a significant contributor to anemia in very low birth weight infants and can lead to a range of poor health outcomes. Read more in the UAMS Newsroom.

International Guidelines for Endocrinology
Dr. Spyridoula Maraka, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Endocrinology Fellowship, has been appointed as an Endocrine Society Guideline Methodologist. As a member of a panel of specially trained guidelines experts, Dr. Maraka will work to develop and co-author clinical practice guidelines for the field of endocrinology and metabolism during her three-year term. The Endocrine Society is the leading international medical organization in the field with more than 18,000 members from over 120 countries.

Award-Winning Posters
A shout-out to Internal Medicine residents Dr. Sahil Sabharwal (PGY-2 UAMS/Mercy) and Dr. Gomathy Nageswaran (PGY-2 UAMS Little Rock) for the Outstanding Poster Awards they received at the American College of Gastroenterology national meeting in Philadelphia in late October. Dr. Sabharwal was honored for one of four posters he presented, “A Rare Case of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Tongue in Remission Re-Emerging as a Metastatic Colonic Polyp.” Dr. Nageswaran was honored for one of her four posters, “More than Just a Variceal Bleed: Multiple Portal Hypertensive Gastric Polyps in a Case of Advanced Cirrhosis.” UAMS was well represented at the meeting with several residents presenting their work. In September, we also shared the good news that Dr. Tyler Ratliff  (PGY-2 UAMS/Washington Regional) was selected to receive the Presidential Poster Award at the meeting.

National Medical Examiners Leadership
Dr. Theodore (Ted) Brown, Associate Professor of Pathology and Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Arkansas, has been elected to the Executive Committee of the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME). Dr. Brown has served on the Board of Directors of NAME for the past year and will begin serving on the seven-member Executive Committee in January. At UAMS, Dr. Brown also serves as Director of Autopsy.

Athlete and Scholar
And finally this week, congratulations to first-year UAMS Northwest Campus first-year medical student Lily DeSpain on a national recognition she earned outside of the academic arena as a collegiate student athlete. Lily was recently selected as one of the Top 30 NCAA Women of the Year honorees. Before her medical school days, Lily had a record-setting career as a swimmer for the Missouri State University Bears. The NCAA honor is all the more impressive considering there were 627 student athletes nominated by their institutions. You can read more about Lily in this article from Missouri State.