Jessica Snowden, M.D., M.S., MHPTT, professor and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, has been appointed vice dean for research, effective July 1.

“Dr. Snowden brings stellar research experience to her new role,” Executive Vice Chancellor and College of Medicine Dean Susan Smyth, M.D., Ph.D., said in an announcement to faculty, noting that Snowden is a nationally recognized expert in pediatric infectious diseases and pediatric clinical and translational research.

Snowden has held numerous leadership roles at UAMS and Arkansas Children’s since her recruitment in 2018, including vice chair for research in the Department of Pediatrics since 2019 and chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases since 2020. She has served as associate director for clinical and translational research in the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute since 2019. In the UAMS Translational Research Institute, Snowden is Co-Director of Workforce Development.

Since 2018, Snowden also has served as co-principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health-funded IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network Data Coordinating and Operations Center, which directs clinical operations for trial implementation and professional development across an 18-state research group.

Among many honors, Snowden was invested as the Horace C. Cabe Distinguished Chair for Infectious Diseases at Arkansas Children’s in May 2021. She serves on several national research committees, including the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Pediatric Research and the Infectious Disease Society of America Research Affairs Committee.

Snowden graduated with honors from Texas A&M College of Medicine in 2002. She completed her pediatrics residency at East Carolina University/University Health Systems and continued her training with a pediatric infectious disease fellowship at UAMS. She went on to serve in faculty positions at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Creighton University. In 2018, she received both a Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Research and a Master in Health Professions Teaching and Technology from UNMC. 

Snowden succeeds Nancy Rusch, Ph.D., who is stepping down from the post to focus on her critical leadership roles as distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the college and co-director of key training and workforce development programs in the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI).

“Dr. Rusch has done an outstanding job as vice dean for research, and she will remain involved in the COM Office of Research, overseeing mentoring and training programs for our college and new initiatives such as the Connect Arkansas Research Scholars (CARS) program with the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff,” Smyth said.

Lindsey Sward, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has been appointed assistant dean for clinical education in the college.

“In this newly created position, Dr. Sward will lead efforts to continue and improve our work of producing highly skilled, compassionate physicians for Arkansas,” Susan Smyth, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice chancellor and dean, and James Graham, vice dean for academic affairs, said in an announcement to faculty.

“With the recent expansion of the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, the addition of a three-year accelerated M.D. track aimed at producing more primary care physicians, and our growth across the state, this position will help us ensure that we provide consistent and excellent clinical instruction for all of our medical students,” Smyth and Graham said. “Dr. Sward brings exceptional teaching skills and a strong commitment to our educational mission to her new post.”

Sward has garnered many honors from UAMS medical students including five Golden Apple awards from junior and senior classes, which are awarded to the faculty member voted by each class as the top teacher during the year. She also has received multiple Red Sash and Gold Sash awards for teaching and has been selected twice by graduating seniors to give the “Faculty Charge” address at their Honors Convocation ceremony. Sward also has been recognized nationally by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology as a Fellow and through ACOG’s Mentor of the Year Award and National Faculty Award.

Sward has served in numerous educational leadership roles since joining the faculty in 2015, including medical student clerkship director in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology since 2017. She serves on the college’s Curriculum Committee and Clinical Skills Subcommittee, and on the UAMS Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) Self Study Task Force. Sward is a clinical teaching preceptor in the Practice of Medicine I and II courses. She will continue to serve in many of these roles in addition to her ongoing commitment to excellent care for her patients. A native of Conway, Sward received her medical degree from the College of Medicine in 2009. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at UAMS, serving as chief resident during her final year.

Feeling a little “foggy”? Worried about lacking “bandwidth” to accomplish things that once seemed doable? Or maybe you are struggling with “decision fatigue.”

College of Medicine Dean Susan Smyth, M.D., Ph.D., and other leaders launched “COM Conversations,” a new virtual journal club and discussion group open to everyone in the COM, with a Jan. 11 Zoom discussion on how the prolonged pandemic is impacting our stress levels, memory and more – and what we can do about it.

“I wanted to start this conversation by saying that if you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, you are not alone,” Smyth told some 60 participants. “This really is affecting all of us in one way or another, and there are normal responses to facing trauma and to being under stress.”

Smyth offered her own anecdotes about forgetting certain things. Others chimed in with their own experiences and concerns, drawing commiserating nods from colleagues:

I wonder what will our “new normal” will look like.

I find myself not having the bandwidth to accomplish what I used to manage.

I have been struggling with decision fatigue.

It is hard to always be at 100% for our patients when in a chronically stressed state.

Dr. Smyth, along with Associate Dean for Students Sara Tariq, M.D., and UAMS Center for GME Director Jim Clardy, M.D., recommended articles in Psychology Today and Sharp Health News about pandemic-related memory issues and strategies for coping.

Dr. Clardy, a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, shared additional insights, emphasizing that some forgetfulness during this extremely challenging time is normal. “You don’t have a memory until you ‘make’ one, and when you are chronically stressed and you’re thinking about 10 different things at once, the memory just doesn’t go in,” he said. “One answer to that is to be aware of how quickly you are moving, and pause and just say, ‘I’ve got to remember that.’”

Fatigue and stress also frequently impact how one acts around others. “Some of us get giddy; some of us get angry,” Dr. Clardy said. “And you can swing from one to another really quickly.” Those who are extremely tired and stressed often exhibit disinhibition. “If you do or say things you wouldn’t usually do or say, you are being disinhibited,” he explained.

A third effect of the challenges and constraints of the pandemic – as with other circumstances that result in severe fatigue and stress – is a loss of one’s ability to creatively solve problems, Dr. Clardy said. “I sometimes give myself a self-check by doing a Sudoku puzzle,” he said. “On days when I am really, really tired, I make all sorts of mistakes, and I just kind of laugh about it.”

“The main point I want to say is, we are all in this together,” Dr. Clardy said. “And if you are not completely ‘OK,’ that would probably be about normal right now.”

For those of us who are having trouble finding the “bandwidth” to deal with today’s myriad challenges, Dr. Tariq, a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, shared a metaphoric story she learned from Puru Thapa, M.D., MPH, a Professor of Psychiatry who leads UAMS programs in mindfulness and faculty, resident and student wellness.

It is the tale of a wise woman who is approached by a person who is extremely stressed. The wise woman advises the person to taste a glass of water laced with a teaspoon of salt. After exclaiming how awful the water tastes, the stressed-out person is directed to take a drink from a bucketful of water containing a teaspoon of salt. It tastes better, of course. Finally, the person is instructed to taste water from a stream containing a teaspoon of salt, and it tastes amazing.

“So the moral of the story that Dr. Thapa told me was – build capacity,” Dr. Tariq said. “Your goal is to be like the stream.”

Building personal capacity will differ from person to person, she said, citing exercise and turning off email earlier in the evening as a couple of possibilities, along with the tips shared in the Psychology Today and Sharp Health News articles.

Dr. Smyth noted the importance of paring back some activities whenever possible. “I think it is very hard for those of us who are in health care to give up certain responsibilities,” she said. “We need to recognize that and that it is OK that we can’t get everything done.”

Dr. Smyth hosted a second “COM Conversations” on January 25 with a journal club style discussion of “5 Things High Performing Teams Do Differently,” an article by Ron Friedman in the Harvard Business Review. Upcoming sessions, about once a month, will focus on workplace topics, leadership development and other issues suggested by College of Medicine faculty, staff, residents, fellows and students.

Paul Drew, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine, has been appointed assistant dean for research in the college. Drew will partner Nancy Rusch, Ph.D., vice dean for research, to lead special initiatives in the College of Medicine Research Office.

“Dr. Drew is an internationally recognized neuroscientist, and he has the innovative skills and leadership experience necessary to establish and direct research initiatives across the College of Medicine,” said Rusch. “He will be an outstanding mentor for new investigators and a strong asset to our scientists at all career levels.”

Drew also serves as director of research in the Department of Neurology, where he holds a secondary appointment, and as co-director of the mock study section program in the UAMS Translational Research Institute. He has held a variety of leadership roles since joining the faculty in 1996, including a term as chair of the college’s Promotion and Tenure Committee and service on the promotion and tenure committees of multiple departments. He has contributed extensively to faculty mentoring.

Drew received his doctorate in zoology (cell and molecular biology) from the University of Maryland. He received postdoctoral training in the Neuroimmunology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health (NIH).

His research interests include neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases with a focus on multiple sclerosis and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. His research has been steadily funded by the NIH, the National Science Foundation, and private funding agencies including the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Rampy Foundation for MS Research. He reviews grants regularly for the NIH, the Department of Defense and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Four leaders in research and education in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have been promoted to the esteemed faculty rank of Distinguished Professor by the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees.

Promotion to Distinguished Professor is a special distinction reserved for faculty members who are recognized nationally or internationally as intellectual leaders in their academic disciplines with exceptional accomplishments in research, teaching, scholarly publications and other work. Promotion to the rank requires endorsement from the respective department, college and UA campus leadership as well as the Board of Trustees.

At its Nov. 17-18 meeting, the Board of Trustees approved promotion to Distinguished Professor rank for:

• Gwen V. Childs, Ph.D., who has served as chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences since 2000 and is internationally recognized for her work in endocrine and pituitary gland regulation and cytophysiology.

• Lawrence E. Cornett, Ph.D., who has advanced the research enterprise at UAMS and in Arkansas through numerous leadership roles during his 41 years on the faculty and continues to serve in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology.

• Fred W. Prior, Ph.D., who has chaired the Department of Biomedical Informatics since 2015 and is internationally recognized for his expertise in cancer imaging, including his leadership in the development of a National Cancer Institute-funded public database.

• Nancy J. Rusch, Ph.D., who has chaired the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology since 2005 and has served as the college’s executive associate dean for research since January 2021, in addition to leading many scientific training initiatives.

“We are exceptionally fortunate to have these leaders on our faculty,” said Susan S. Smyth, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine. “Dr. Childs, Dr. Cornett, Dr. Prior and Dr. Rusch hail from different fields of biomedical research and education, but they all share a strong commitment to rigorous, high-quality science and ensuring the best possible training for the next generation of physicians and researchers.”

As Chair of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences, Childs provides leadership for faculty members who, in addition to their own research, are integral to pre-clinical education for new medical students. She has been a strong advocate for medical education throughout her career and is known as well for her mentorship of both colleagues and learners and for being a role model for women in science.

In 2019, Childs received the highest honor from the national Histochemical Society, the Gomori Award, for her pioneering research in the field of immunohistochemistry. Her early work included development of histochemical and immunohistochemical approaches to learn more about multipotential pituitary cells. Recent studies have focused on how the metabolome communicates with pituitary cells. Childs has been continuously funded since 1974 and has published extensively in scientific journals and textbooks. 

Cornett’s UAMS leadership positions have included executive associate dean for research in the College of Medicine in 2007-2013, UAMS vice chancellor for research in 2007-2018, and other roles that have strengthened research programs, services and funding at UAMS. He served as executive director of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute in 2003-2007. National leadership roles have included serving on the Association of American Medical Colleges GRAND Steering Committee in 2016-2021, including a one-year term as chair, and chairing the EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation Board in 2017-2021.

For the past 20 years, Cornett has been the principal investigator and director of Arkansas INBRE (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence). The program has received $78.5 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, to date, to promote and support mentorship-focused biomedical research for undergraduate college students and faculty across the state.   

Prior has exponentially grown UAMS’ biomedical informatics capabilities, research and educational programs since his recruitment in 2015. In addition to chairing the Department of Biomedical Informatics, he is director of the biomedical informatics core of the UAMS Translational Research Institute and leads multiple federally funded projects. Prior has served on grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Veterans Administration and the National Science Foundation for over 25 years.

Prior is principal investigator of The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), an NCI-funded national public database for images relating to cancer that was launched in 2011 while he was on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis. The TCIA transferred to UAMS with Prior’s recruitment, Earlier this year, it was cited as a prime example of a High-Value Data Asset for national research by a NIH working group.

As chair of Pharmacology and Toxicology for 16 years, Rusch has overseen growth in key research areas and the development of nationally recognized researchers and educators. She is also a leader in the UAMS Translational Research Institute, where she developed and co-leads TRI’s Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HSIE) Postdoctoral Scholars Training Program and directs new program initiatives in TRI’s Translational Workforce Development. She is a leading expert in vascular ion channel remodeling in hypertension.

Following her appointment as executive associate dean for research, she oversaw the launch of 1-2-3 GO, a new grant program for research teams from multiple departments and colleges. Among many initiatives, she is currently working to further identify research strengths and innovative collaborations in the college to help guide research investments that will help achieve UAMS’ “Vision 2029” strategic plan for improving health in Arkansas.

Beatrice Boateng, Ph.D., has been appointed to the newly established post of associate dean for analysis, planning and strategic program development in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

“Dr. Boateng has provided expert assessment and evaluation for programs at the department, institute and college level at UAMS for more than a decade,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean Susan Smyth, M.D., Ph.D. “We have seen the impact of what she brings to the table at every level.”

A professor of pediatrics, Boateng served most recently as assistant dean for faculty assessment and evaluation in the college since January 2019. She also served as director of evaluation for the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI) from 2014 until assuming her current position as an associate dean. In the Department of Pediatrics, she served as director of the Office of Education and co-director of faculty development from 2011 to 2019, when she became the department’s director of faculty assessment and evaluation. 

“In her new role, Dr. Boateng will plan, implement, evaluate and communicate the overall priorities for our college,” Smyth said. “Crucially, she will help ensure the successful implementation of our college’s strategic goals as part of UAMS’ Vision 2029. Dr. Boateng will provide leadership for college-wide and cross-functional projects and help ensure the most efficient and effective allocation of our resources.”

As an assistant dean, Boateng developed databases and online systems to streamline and ensure meaningful faculty and leadership performance evaluations. She also developed dashboards to track and visualize faculty information such as demographics, diversity and attrition. At TRI, Boateng monitored, evaluated and reported the progress and outcomes on activities relating to UAMS’ Clinical and Translational Science Award. In the Department of Pediatrics, she introduced assessment tools and processes that have strengthened academic and faculty development programs.

Boateng earned her master’s degree in international affairs and doctorate in instructional technology from Ohio University. She joined UAMS in 2007 as an assistant professor in the UAMS Office of Educational Development. She moved to the Department of Pediatrics in 2009 and was promoted to associate professor in 2013 and to professor in 2020. She has received numerous honors including the UAMS Educational Technology Excellence Award in 2013, the UAMS Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award in 2017, and three Educator of the Year awards in the Department of Pediatrics.

Renee Bornemeier, M.D., a professor of pediatrics who has served in several faculty leadership roles in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has been named associate dean for faculty affairs and development.

Bornemeier will be joined by Theresa Wyrick, M.D., associate professor and vice chair for faculty development in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, who will serve as assistant dean.

“Dr. Bornemeier will bring great energy and expertise to initiatives to strengthen our faculty development programs and other services to support the success of our faculty, and Dr. Wyrick adds to that energy as a strong advocate for mentorship and development of colleagues,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean Susan Smyth, M.D., Ph.D.

Bornemeier succeeds Erick Messias, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., who recently left UAMS for a leadership post at the University of St. Louis. Bornemeier previously worked with Messias as an assistant dean, leading faculty affairs for College of Medicine faculty from multiple departments at Arkansas Children’s since last year.

Bornemeier also has served as interim chair of the Department of Pediatrics since last November and as the department’s vice chair for faculty affairs since 2017. She has been a member of the Pediatrics Promotion and Tenure Committee since 2013. Bornemeier served on the College of Medicine Promotion and Tenure Committee in 2012-2016, including a term as chair in 2015-2016.

Bornemeier graduated from UAMS in 1988 and stayed at UAMS and Arkansas Children’s for her pediatrics residency. She completed a fellowship in pediatric cardiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and returned to UAMS in 1994 as an instructor in the Department of Pediatrics. Bornemeier rose through the faculty ranks and has served as a professor in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology since 2009.

Her clinical leadership roles have included medical director of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Heart Station from 1995 to 2008, director of the Bale Fetal Heart Center since 2009, vice chief of staff in 2017-2018 and subsequently chief of staff. Bornemeier also directed the development of the Cardiac 3D Print Lab at Arkansas Children’s.

Wyrick received her medical degree and completed her residency in orthopaedic surgery at UAMS. She continued her training with a fellowship at the Philadelphia Hand Center at Thomas Jefferson University.

Wyrick joined the UAMS faculty as an assistant professor in 2009. In 2012, she was appointed chief of hand and upper extremity surgery at UAMS and medical director of hand and upper extremity surgery at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. She was promoted to associate professor in 2014.

In May 2021, Wyrick was appointed vice chair for faculty development in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, where she has been overseeing efforts to implement a faculty mentorship program as well as working on faculty retention and leadership development. Wyrick has been active in national efforts, as well as initiatives in Arkansas, to advance women in orthopaedic surgery. She serves on the leadership team of the Academic Orthopaedic Consortium and as co-chair of the AOC Women’s Executive Leadership Forum.

Elena Ambrogini, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed director of the Department of Internal Medicine’s Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine.

 A faculty member since 2015, Ambrogini is an associate professor in the division, a staff endocrinologist and researcher for the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS), and a researcher with the UAMS Center for Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Diseases and the Center for Musculoskeletal Disease Research.

“Dr. Ambrogini is a consummate physician, an accomplished scientist, and a recognized leader in the field of endocrinology/metabolism,” said Edward T.H. Yeh, M.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. “She will continue to lead this distinguished division to newer heights.”

Ambrogini received her medical degree and completed initial internship and residency in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Pisa in Italy. She later obtained her doctorate in endocrine and metabolic sciences from the University of Pisa while concurrently conducting a postdoctoral research fellowship in metabolic bone disorders at UAMS. She continued her clinical training with an additional residency in internal medicine, followed by a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism, at UAMS.

Ambrogini’s clinical areas of expertise include thyroid and parathyroid diseases, osteoporosis, other metabolic bone disorders and general endocrinology. As a physician-scientist, she conducts basic and clinical studies into diseases of bone and calcium metabolism with funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs, which awarded her a four-year VA Merit Review Award in 2019. She has published extensively on the pathophysiology of osteoporosis and the development of novel therapies that may treat osteoporosis and atherosclerosis simultaneously. She is a member of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) and the Endocrine Society. National honors include Young Investigator and other awards from ASBMR. At CAVHS, Dr. Ambrogini received the Physician of the Year Award in 2019 and a Special Contribution Award for her service during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The UAMS College of Medicine presented her with the Clinical Excellence Award for Service and Professionalism in 2021.

UAMS welcomed Susan Smyth, M.D., Ph.D., as executive vice chancellor and dean of the College of Medicine on June 1. You can read Dr. Smyth’s bio, and the March 8, 2021 announcement of her appointment. We sat down with Dr. Smyth for a Q&A to help team members and friends of the College of Medicine get to know this new leader of medicine in Arkansas. Our conversation ranged from Dr. Smyth’s insights on the college’s evolving role in improving health in Arkansas, to her path to becoming a highly regarded cardiologist and researcher, to how she enjoys spending her free time.

What is the most pressing challenge for health and health care in Arkansas, and what will be the College of Medicine’s role in addressing it?

Our most urgent challenge is to turn the tide on COVID-19 and do everything we can to protect our patients, students, colleagues and loved ones. The more highly contagious Delta variant of the virus is rapidly gaining ground in Arkansas, and this strain is making more unvaccinated people severely ill. I urge our team members and their families who aren’t vaccinated to get vaccinated right away. And all of us must remain vigilant about wearing our mask in public and when we’re around others at UAMS. It is important to follow established safety protocols. We cannot become complacent.

Aside from COVID-19, I think the most pressing and longer-term challenge for our state is the issue of health equity, and particularly the large health disparities we have in rural and underserved communities. It is imperative for us to ensure the best possible health and equitable access to excellent health care for every Arkansan.

Health equity crosses all health issues and diseases, and our college’s role in solving these complex issues is multifactorial. First and foremost, we have an essential role in educating and training physicians for Arkansas, and that means individuals who are well prepared to address these challenges and to work with communities to eliminate health inequities.

With health equity as an important focus, how will our work as educators, clinicians and scientists in academic medicine change?

Part of this is will mean training our students – and training all of us – to look at health and disease prevention through a slightly different lens. Historically, physicians have been incredibly well trained to take care of individuals, and that needs to continue. We will always be committed to looking at how we can best meet the needs of each patient.

However, we must also become adept in thinking about how to best meet the needs of the population and communities. Consider the analogies between caring for the individual and caring for the population. We are accustomed to hearing from an individual patient and collecting data – vital signs, clinical laboratory data, imaging data – and having a conversation with the patient about their various issues and options for care, and then coming together around a treatment plan.

We need to be able to do the same thing at a community level. And when we say ‘community,’ we can mean people in a certain area, or patients with similar health conditions and risks, demographics and so on. From the clinical, scholarly and educational perspectives, population health and addressing social determinants of health will become increasingly important in our work.

What are the challenges of this newer approach to improving health?

Some of the key questions are how do we collect, interpret, share and utilize health information about a community? Increasingly, there are data resources available to tell us about populations. Armed with this information, it is important to engage with the community and have conversations around their values. What do they see as important? As with caring for an individual patient, it is very important to come to shared decision-making that leads to a healthier community and population.

To do this effectively for communities, we need to train and educate ourselves differently. We must support more research that helps us better understand the best options and strategies for improving health at the community level, and how to effectively implement solutions. We also must continue to develop partnerships and relationships with our communities that allow us to have those conversations, much as we build our relationships with individual patients. Our partners will include community groups, churches, hospitals, other health care organizations, civic groups and many others. It will take the entirety of the infrastructure to tackle some of these challenges.

So, this is what I see as the future of health care, and really, what I believe is the future of our college – to prepare all of us to take on that role.

As you have met team members and learned more about the College of Medicine and UAMS in your initial weeks here, what has surprised or impressed you the most?

I have been impressed with the caliber of our faculty and staff and excellence in all mission areas – education, research and clinical care. The collegiality and kindness at UAMS has really struck me, as well as the dedication of individuals and the institution as a whole to the people of Arkansas. I had a sense of that from the interviews prior to my appointment, and frankly, that’s why I’m here. Hook, line and sinker, I am all in for making our core vision of a healthier Arkansas a reality.

I earned my medical degree and my doctorate in pharmacology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and later began my career in academic medicine there. I am tremendously grateful to my home state for everything it did for me during my career, and I greatly appreciate the unique role a public, state university has. The opportunity to impact lives across a state is incredibly powerful and really what we at public academic medical centers have a mission and a calling to do.

Team UAMS is living up to this calling for the state of Arkansas. The commitment to solving health and equity issues, to giving back to the state of Arkansas, is clear and compelling. I am thrilled to work with everyone in the College of Medicine and UAMS in this pursuit.

When did you know you wanted to become a doctor – and a physician-scientist? 

I’m not entirely sure how I came to the decision to become a doctor, but I can say that sometime in my senior year of high school, I decided that I was going to be a physician-scientist. I loved my biology class, and I entered college with the goal of preparing myself to be an M.D./Ph.D. Interestingly, there was not another doctor in my family at the time, and I did not personally know an M.D./Ph.D. My grandparents were both teachers, my mom was an elementary school teacher, and my dad was a philosophy professor.

What drew you to your clinical specialty of cardiology and your research focusing on arterial and venous thrombosis?

Like many physician-scientists, I enjoy a whole bunch of different things. While in medical school, I really liked my rotations in different clinical areas, and it took me a while to come to the decision to do my residency in internal medicine.   

During residency, I was struggling to narrow down my future to one specialty. Then, the blood thinner ReoPro (abciximab) received FDA approval for use in patients undergoing coronary stent implantation. ReoPro is a monoclonal antibody that works against a major platelet receptor, and I had worked with that antibody while researching blood clotting as a graduate student. I remember working in the coronary care unit and giving ReoPro to a patient. I recall thinking, if I want to merge my scientific interests in preventing thrombosis with clinical care, the place to do this in in cardiology. It was really the development of that drug that made me see the connection between my scientific and clinical interests.  Cardiology is a great specialty for me because we cover many facets of care and I have had the chance to have long-term relationships with patients as well as manage critical illness.

Later, as a cardiology fellow at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York, I had the opportunity to work with the physician who developed ReoPro, Dr. Barry Coller. Dr. Coller is world-renowned and an incredibly compassionate physician, and he became one of my key mentors. The drug he developed, and that class of therapeutics, has saved hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million, lives. The opportunity to work with such a person – it changed my career and my life.

Switching gears on questions now. You and your husband, Andrew Morris, Ph.D., a renowned lipid metabolism and signaling researcher, aren’t the only family members joining us at UAMS.

Right! Our English labs, Carmine and Selah, have had distinguished careers as therapy dogs at the University of Kentucky, and we can hardly wait to introduce them and put them to work at UAMS. They have their own Facebook pages, so our Arkansas friends can start to meet Selah and Carmine if they would like.

Carmine is part of a mobility team, so he walks with patients.  He encourages patients, for example, to get up and sit in a chair, and then to move from the chair. We have had patients who weren’t out of bed for months, and Carmine enticed them first to get to the chair, and then to get up and walk with him. Carmine is the most laid-back dog you can imagine.

Selah, on the other hand, is very engaging. In Kentucky, she worked with stroke patients on motor skills by bouncing a ball back and forth with them. She’ll jump onto their bed and let them brush her to work on hand and arm movements. She will step up and down on platforms to demonstrate movements.

We also have a Maine Coon cat, Bernadette, who rules the house and keeps both dogs in place.

What do you like to do in your spare time? Have you had a chance to explore some of Arkansas yet?

I love to read and enjoy cooking and gardening. Of course, we do frequent walks with the dogs. We are very excited about moving them to our new neighborhood in Little Rock and have been counting all the other dogs we see on our neighborhood walks. We had a great time in Hot Springs recently and are really looking forward to seeing the rest of Arkansas.

OK, here are some quick and quirky questions. What was the latest TV show you watched?

“Mare of Easttown.”  My show watching is a bit eclectic.  I love Jane Austen, period dramas and “Masterpiece Theatre,” HGTV, and am a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and “Game of Thrones.”

What makes you laugh?

My husband, Andrew, and our two sons. They all have different personalities and senses of humor. Andrew is one of the best satirists that I know.

What would surprise people about you?

I am really into P!nk – how she empowers women and encourages folks to color outside the lines really resonates with me. And, wow, can she sing.

Who would be your guests (anyone living or deceased) for a cup of tea and conversation?

Goodness gracious. There are so many choices. Abraham Lincoln. Einstein. Martin Luther King Jr. I would love to talk to Mary Lyon, the founder of my undergraduate college, Mount Holyoke, which was the first institution of higher education for women in the country. I would love to hear her passion, first hand, about education for women. Probably Madame Curie, as a female scientist. Those are some of the folks I would love to sit down and talk with.