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.

Mario Ferruzzi, Ph.D., has been appointed director of the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center (ACNC) and professor and chief of the Developmental Nutrition Section of the Department of Pediatrics in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine. He will join UAMS and Arkansas Children’s Sept. 1.

Ferruzzi is currently the David H. Murdoch Distinguished Professor in the Plants for Human Health Institute at North Carolina State University. His research centers on identifying food science strategies that contribute to the development of nutritional products that prevent chronic disease and enhance the quality of life for populations around the world.

The ACNC is a national human nutrition research center established as a partnership between Arkansas Children’s and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, in collaboration with the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute (ACRI) and UAMS. Since its founding in 1994, the ACNC has become a premier research venue for the study of maternal-child health and early childhood development.

“The mission of the ACNC is to conduct cutting edge research to understand how maternal-child nutrition and physical activity optimize health and development,” Interim Pediatrics Chair Renee A. Bornemeier, M.D., said in an announcement to faculty welcoming Ferruzzi on behalf of the department and ACRI President Pete Mourani, M.D. “We look forward to what is ahead for the ACNC under the leadership of Dr. Ferruzzi combined with the excellent research contributions from our faculty.”

Ferruzzi’s research focuses on characterization of plant foods, exploring chemistries and functionalities of bioactive phytochemicals and micronutrients and how phytochemicals and micronutrients are impacted from food formulation and processing. His efforts have received consistent research support from federal, foundational and industry sources. He is also known for significant international food and nutrition research collaborations with leading academic and government research centers and institutions in Italy, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Senegal and South Africa. 

Ferruzzi received his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Duke University and his master’s and doctorate degrees in food science and nutrition at the Ohio State University. Ferruzzi began his career as a research scientist with Nestle Research & Development in Marysville, Ohio, and Lausanne, Switzerland, working in the areas of coffee, tea and nutritional product innovations. In 2004, he joined the faculty of Purdue University as a joint hire between the departments of Food Science and Foods & Nutrition. In 2016, he was recruited to North Carolina State University and the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Science, moving his program to the Plants for Human Health Institute at North Carolina State University, at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. He is a professional member of the Institute of Food Technologists, the American Society for Nutrition, the American Chemical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Christopher Smith, M.D., has rejoined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Arkansas Children’s as professor and vice chair for primary care in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and primary care service line director and medical director of ambulatory primary care services at Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH).

Smith previously served UAMS and Arkansas Children’s in numerous leadership roles from 1989 to 2016, including as regional associate dean for the College of Medicine at the UAMS Northwest Campus in Fayetteville in 2011-2016. From 2016 until his return to UAMS, he was a professor and the Daniel C. Plunket Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Smith received his medical degree from the University of Mississippi in 1983 and came to UAMS for his internship and pediatrics residency. He spent three years in private practice in Clinton, Mississippi before joining the UAMS Department of Pediatrics faculty in 1989.

Smith served as associate director of the Pediatrics Residency during his first three years as a faculty member and then directed the program from 1992 to1997, when he was appointed vice chair for education in the department. Smith served for 12 years on the UAMS Graduate Medical Education Committee, including four years as chair.

As an educator, Smith has received numerous honors, including the 2008-2009 UAMS Chancellor’s Faculty Teaching Award, the 2009 College of Medicine Master Teacher Award, and numerous student-selected Red Sash Awards.

Smith’s clinical leadership roles at ACH included developing and serving as director of the Pediatric Hospitalist Service from 2003 to 2010. He also served as medical director of the ACH Express Care Unit in 2004-2009 and as associate medical director for the hospital in 2005-2011.

As regional associate dean for the College of Medicine from 2011 to 2016, Smith oversaw much of the initial growth of the medical education program at the UAMS Northwest campus. Among many initiatives, he worked with students and leaders of UAMS’ Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Professions colleges in the region to develop interprofessional educational experiences. While chair of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine, Smith emphasized faculty development and promotion, and student, resident and faculty scholarly work. Under his leadership, the department developed a research infrastructure that led to more than doubling of the publications produced by the department while continuing as the largest provider of care in the state for children insured by Medicaid.

Timothy Langford, M.D., a Little Rock urologic surgeon with nearly three decades of experience, has been appointed chair of the Department of Urology in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), effective Oct. 3.

Langford succeeds current Chair Rodney Davis, M.D., who is retiring after serving in the post since 2012.

“Dr. Langford is a highly regarded urologic surgeon and leader in the field in Arkansas and regionally,” said Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine. “He brings superb experience in urologic surgery and clinical leadership to UAMS.”

Langford has practiced throughout his 28-year career at Arkansas Urology, P.A., where he served as president from 2011 to January of this year.

A 1988 graduate of the UAMS College of Medicine, Langford stayed at UAMS for his general surgery internship and residency training in general surgery followed by his urology residency. He served as chief resident in urology before joining Arkansas Urology in 1993. In addition to his leadership of Arkansas Urology, he was chief of staff at Baptist Health-Little Rock in 2014-2015. Langford is certified by the American Board of Urology and is active in national and regional professional organizations including the American Urologic Association, the American Association of Clinical Urologists and the Arkansas Urological Society, for which he served as president in 2002. He also has held leadership roles in the South Central Section of the American Urological Association (SCA/AUA) including a term as president in 2018.

John Spollen, M.D., professor and vice chair for education in the Department of Psychiatry in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine, has been appointed interim chair of the department effective June 1, when current chair G. Richard Smith, M.D., retires.

“As an outstanding clinician and award-winning educational leader, Dr. Spollen will ensure the continued success of psychiatric care, education and research at UAMS during the search for the next Chair and Director of the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute (PRI),” Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., said in an April 12 announcement to faculty.

Spollen received his medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his residency in psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina and joined the UAMS faculty in 1999. He has held the rank of professor since 2014.

Among many educational roles in the Department of Psychiatry, Spollen has served as junior clerkship director and, since 2004, as vice chair for education. He has been clinical co-director of the M1 Brain and Behavior Module since 2015. Spollen has served on the College of Medicine Curriculum Committee since 2002 and has held a number of leadership roles, including co-chair of the Evaluation and Quality Improvement Subcommittee. 

Spollen has received many honors for his work in education, including the Educational Innovation Award, multiple Educational Research awards, and the Master Teacher Award from the College of Medicine, and the 2019 UAMS Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Students have recognized his teaching with Red Sash and Gold Sash awards.

Spollen practices at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS), where he has held several clinical and administrative roles including his current posts as director of the Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison Service and the Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and Ketamine Program for treatment-resistant depression. He is board-certified in general psychiatry, consultation liaison psychiatry and addiction medicine.

Active in several national psychiatry education organizations, Spollen is a past president of the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry and currently serves on the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Medical Education. He has published and presented nationally and internationally on educational topics including assessment of professionalism and recruiting medical students into psychiatry.

“I thank Dr. Spollen for agreeing to serve in this important leadership role for our institution and those we serve,” Westfall said. “I also want to take this opportunity once again to thank Dr. Smith for his 40 years of outstanding service to our college, UAMS and our state, and to wish him all the best in his upcoming retirement.”

Sara Shalin, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of pathology and dermatology, has been named chair of the Department of Dermatology in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

“Dr. Shalin has done an exceptional job as interim chair of the Department of Dermatology since last March, advancing the department’s efforts in clinical care, research and education while providing excellent support for her faculty and residents,” said Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the UAMS College of Medicine. “She will continue to bring great energy and conscientious leadership to the department in the years ahead.”

A graduate of the M.D./Ph.D. program at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Shalin received her doctorate in neuroscience in 2006 and her medical degree in 2007. She completed her medical residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Baylor, ultimately serving as chief resident. Shalin completed her fellowship training in Boston in the Harvard Hospitals Combined Dermatopathology Program.

Shalin was recruited to UAMS in 2012. She has held several leadership roles within the Department of Pathology and has directed the M.D./Ph.D. dual degree program at UAMS since 2017. She is also the current director of the UAMS Dermatopathology Fellowship Program. Shalin is involved in collaborative research in melanoma pathogenesis and biology. Her other research interests include the pathology of inflammatory diseases of the skin and other cutaneous malignancies. She is board certified in dermatopathology and anatomic and clinical pathology and is active in national pathology and dermatology societies. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, one of the leading journals in her subspecialty.