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Off and Running! New 1-2-3 GO Grants Support Team Research

Nancy Rusch, Ph.D., College of Medicine executive associate dean for research, assists as Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor and dean, draws the name of a team that will receive a 1-2-3 GO grant. Joining them are Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D., UAMS vice chancellor for research and innovation, (back left) and Nancy Gray, Ph.D., president of BioVentures.

“1-2-3 GO” is off and running with seven teams selected to receive grants in the new funding program for researchers from the College of Medicine and other colleges at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and in the University of Arkansas system. 

The program provides rapid distribution of $75,000 in seed funding for interdisciplinary teams of three faculty members plus a student or trainee. The “GO” in the program’s name stands for grant opportunity, and “1-2-3” reflects the program’s aim of providing a fast, simple approach to obtain funding to bring new research ideas to life.

Seven project teams were selected in a random drawing of qualifying applications on March 12. Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., UAMS executive vice chancellor and College of Medicine dean, conducted the drawing with Nancy Rusch, Ph.D., executive associate dean for research in the college. They were joined by Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D., UAMS vice chancellor for research and innovation, and Nancy Gray, Ph.D., president of BioVentures, LLC.

For fun, Westfall pulled the winning names from a magician-style top hat.

“Congratulations to our inaugural 1-2-3 GO grant recipients,” Westfall said after the drawing. “The real magic will happen when these teams use their creativity and collaborative expertise to address research questions that could lead to significant discoveries, federal funding for additional studies, and potential commercialization of biomedical advances.” 

1-2-3 GO was initiated in the College of Medicine by Richard P. Morrison, Ph.D., who served as executive associate dean for research prior to his retirement at the end of 2020. Rusch, who succeeded Morrison, completed development and launched the program in collaboration with Ho and Gray.

1-2-3 GO grants are supported with funding from the college, BioVentures, the UAMS Office of Research and Innovation, UA system campuses with faculty members receiving the grants, and philanthropic contributions.

“We received applications from 40 teams representing 120 faculty members and 12 departments from UAMS and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,” Rusch said, adding that the trainees on the proposed projects included medical and graduate students and postdoctoral and clinical fellows. “This strong response shows that our faculty are very willing to collaborate across disciplines to explore new research projects and share discoveries.”

Teams came together through the 1-2-3 GO website, where leaders posted project ideas and additional faculty were able to join the proposals. Applications were reviewed by Rusch’s office to ensure program criteria were met, and by BioVentures to confirm that the proposed research had the potential to generate intellectual property and lead to commercialization. Eighteen projects met those requirements and were included in the drawing for the first round of funding.    

“One of the goals when we launched BioVentures, LLC four years ago was to establish funds from intellectual property revenue that could be re-invested in UAMS for the development of new intellectual property,” said Gray. “The 1-2-3 GO award is the first program to use those funds to generate new collaborative research that has this potential.”

1-2-3 GO team members will participate in BioVentures’ fastPACE course in April to help build skills in evaluating early-stage biomedical discoveries for commercialization potential.

As UAMS vice chancellor for research and innovation, Ho is working closely with her counterpart at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, John English, Ph.D., to build strong research collaborations across the two institutions.

“The 1-2-3 GO mechanism is an exciting opportunity to accelerate translation of research discoveries into marketable clinical practice,” Ho said. “One of the selected projects will be funded through the two vice chancellors’ offices, bringing together top clinical researchers in orthopaedics and biomedical engineering on a project to develop patentable interventions for osteoarthritis from Arkansas to benefit patients from across the nation and around the globe.”

The projects and teams selected to receive funding on April 1 are:

Dr. Teresita Bellido
Teresita Bellido, Ph.D., Project Lead

One-targeted Pyk2 inhibitors for prevention of bone fragility.
Teresita Bellido, Ph.D. (Project Lead): Dept. of Physiology and Cell Biology, UAMS
Alexei Basnakian, M.D., Ph.D.: Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology, UAMS
Hong-Yu Li, Ph.D.: Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UAMS
Amy Sato, Ph.D. (postdoctoral fellow): Dept. of Physiology and Cell Biology, UAMS

Destiny Chau, M.D., Project Lead

Improving accuracy of SpO2 in children with chronic hypoxemia by buccal reflectance pulse oximetry.
Destiny Chau, M.D. (Project Lead): Dept. of Anesthesiology, UAMS
Rupal Bhakta, M.D.: Dept. of Pediatrics, UAMS
Lawrence Greiten, M.D.: Dept. of Surgery, UAMS
Felipe Medeiros, M.D. (fellowship, cardiac anesthesia): Dept. of Anesthesiology, UAMS

Ruud Dings, Ph.D., M.Sc., Project Lead

Delineating dysbiosis-induced multimodal biomarker signatures to optimize precision medicine.
Ruud Dings, Ph.D., M.Sc. (Project Lead): Dept. of Radiation Oncology, UAMS
Renny Lan, Ph.D.: Dept. of Pediatrics, UAMS
Kimberly Stephens, Ph.D.: Dept. of Pediatrics, UAMS
Samir Jenkins, Ph.D. (postdoctoral fellow): Dept. of Radiation Oncology, UAMS

Kalenda Kasangana, M.D., Project Lead

Development of an infection-resistant hemodialysis access graft.
Kalenda Kasangana, M.D. (Project Lead): Dept. of Surgery, UAMS
Kevin Sexton, M.D.: Dept of Surgery, UAMS
Mark Smeltzer, Ph.D.: Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, UAMS
Astha Malhotra, Ph.D. (postdoctoral fellow): Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology, UAMS

Sung Rhee, Ph.D., Project Lead

Improving arterial bleeding cessation by modulating thrombus formation.
Sung Rhee, Ph.D. (Project Lead): Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology, UAMS
Avi Bhavaraju, M.D.: Dept. of Surgery, UAMS
Jerry Ware, Ph.D.: Dept. of Physiology and Cell Biology, UAMS
Hunter Rose (medical student): UAMS

Rebekah Samsonraj, Ph.D., Project Lead

Epigenetic modulation of mesenchymal stem cells as therapeutic interventions for osteoarthritis.
Rebekah Samsonraj, Ph.D. (Project Lead): Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, UA Fayetteville
Lowry Barnes, M.D.: Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery, UAMS
Ryan Porter, M.D.: Dept. of Internal Medicine, UAMS
Luke Childress (graduate student): Dept. of Physiology and Cell Biology, UAMS

Alan Tackett, Ph.D., Project Lead

Monoclonal antibody internalization rates as diagnostic indicators for the immunotherapy of cancer. 
Alan Tackett, Ph.D. (Project Lead): Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UAMS
Yong-Chen Lu, Ph.D.: Dept. of Pathology, UAMS
Ginell Post, M.D., Ph.D.: Dept. of Pathology, UAMS
Brian Koss, Ph.D. (postdoctoral fellow): Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UAMS

Nancy J. Rusch, Ph.D., Named Executive Associate Dean for Research in UAMS College of Medicine

Nancy J. Rusch, Ph.D., has been appointed executive associate dean for research in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine.

Dr. Nancy Rusch
Nancy J. Rusch, Ph.D.

“Dr. Rusch will provide strong leadership for the College of Medicine research enterprise, as she has done while serving as interim executive associate dean since Dr. Richard Morrison’s retirement at the end of last year,” said Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine.

Rusch will continue to lead the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, where she has served as professor and chair since 2005. As chair, she has overseen growth in research funding and the development of nationally recognized faculty who are major contributors to research at UAMS and leaders in medical and graduate student education.

Rusch’s contributions to UAMS extend well beyond her department. She is a key leader in the Translational Research Institute, where she developed and co-leads TRI’s Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HSIE) Postdoctoral Scholars Training Program and serves as TRI co-director of Translational Workforce Development. In her recent role as interim 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.

She has served in numerous other leadership roles, including chair of the College of Medicine Council of Department Chairs, chair of the Basic Science Chairs and founder of the Cardiovascular Interest Group. Rusch has also contributed to numerous search committees for department chairs, UAMS chancellors and other leadership positions, including the next College of Medicine dean, Susan Smyth, M.D., Ph.D.

A leading expert in vascular ion channel remodeling in hypertension, Rusch has been a member of numerous study sections and special review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. She is a longstanding member and leader in the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and a past president of the organization’s Cardiovascular Pharmacology Division.

Rusch received her doctorate at the Mayo Clinic and University of Minnesota. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in pharmacology at the University of Iowa and in physiology and biophysics at the University of Cincinnati. She served on the faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin from 1987 until her recruitment to UAMS. Rusch has received numerous honors since joining UAMS, including the Chancellor’s Teaching Award in 2011, the Graduate School Best Faculty Award in 2014, and the College of Medicine Educational Innovation Award last year.

Family Medicine Resident Wins Prestigious NIH Travel Grant, Sees Future in Health Policy

By Amy Widner

Alexa MartinCOVID-19 really made Alexa Martin, M.D., a third-year resident in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, see the “big picture.”

Thankfully, the last six months have also made her feel like she can tackle it, because of leadership experiences and educational opportunities she couldn’t have imagined before.

“I think I was always interested in the big picture, but sometimes as a med student and resident you’re so focused on learning that you can get task-oriented – focusing on one skill at a time, one patient at a time,” Martin said. “The COVID-19 pandemic really reminded me of the big picture of what medicine is all about – improving human health.”

Martin received the highly competitive and prestigious travel award from the National Institutes of Health and the National Medical Association to attend the NMA’s 2020 annual Convention and Scientific Assembly, which was held virtually in August.

She was recommended for the award because of the leadership role she held with UAMS’ drive-thru COVID-19 screening and testing triage that sprang up quickly in the early days of the pandemic’s impact on Arkansas.

“When the triage was only a few days old, they started pulling some of the residents in to help,” Martin said. “I did my first shift, and I did a good job at it and didn’t complain too much while I was sweating under my PPE. When it was time to go, my replacement didn’t show up, so I stayed on, and they were like, ‘hey, you’re good at this, can you train the next shift?’ So I did, and that’s how it all started.”

Martin ended up as a physician lead, training others who volunteered or were assigned to help. She spent all her spare time reading up on the latest on the disease. She and a few other residents turned out to have a knack for understanding systems and workflow, so when it came time to identify gaps and make improvements, she gave valuable feedback.

She was one of the staff members who suggested that the Family Medicine Clinic create a special clinic dedicated to acute respiratory illnesses so that patients who didn’t need hospitalization could still get valuable care in a time when fears were high but hospital beds were scarce. She also participated in the first mobile triage unit to take the skills of UAMS across the state. Their first stop was Helena.

“It was really good experience to see how quickly we could make changes and come up with solutions,” Martin said. “More than once since then in the hospital I’ve run into professors who under any other circumstances would outrank me, and they’ll say, ‘hey, you were the one that trained me my first day at triage!’ It’s humbling, but also empowering to have an experience as a resident where you see that you can really step into a leadership role and make a difference.”

It was through the COVID-19 triage that Martin met Gloria Richard-Davis, M.D., executive director of the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at UAMS, who recommended she apply for the NIH travel award, which would have covered travel and expenses for the weeklong conference if it had been held in person.

Although the conference was held online, Martin said she still benefitted from learning about the opportunities the NIH offers for early-career physicians who are interested in research or academics. The award came with the title of 2020 academic medicine fellow, and Martin was featured in the conference program under that header and was able to do plenty of networking – even virtually – because of the prestigious distinction.

“I met so many people and learned so much,” Martin said. “I didn’t know there were so many avenues for research and funding to help with loan repayment. It was great to see all of these avenues that I didn’t know about.

“The COVID-19 pandemic had already made me start thinking about whether I should pursue a master’s in public health and go into issues dealing with community and population health, maybe getting involved with state or federal health offices or the Surgeon General’s office – places where you can practice medicine but also be involved in policymaking. This travel grant and fellowship helped me see what the next steps on that path might be.”

 

Husband and Wife Find Breastfeeding Worth the Effort

August 25, 2020 | Stacy Durham and her husband Clint had the birth of their son mapped out: a healthy baby delivered full-term who easily breastfed, a standard hospital stay and return home to their new nursery. But as Stacy describes it, “it just wasn’t in the cards.”

Everything had gone smoothly during her pregnancy, but after a day of labor and two to three hours of pushing, they discovered that baby Carson had swallowed meconium mixed with amniotic fluid and didn’t take a breath for four minutes. The baby was rushed to NICU where he spent five days.

“They had brought him close to me before they took him away, but I don’t remember ever seeing his face,” Stacy said. “They had to get as much done as they could in the room to get him suctioned out. It was very nerve-wracking.”

Stacy’s primary care physician, Cassie Hunter, M.D., who had encouraged her to breastfeed, said the couple worked diligently to make sure their baby boy had the important colostrum and breast milk he needed while he was in NICU.

“She remained committed despite having to go to the NICU a floor away from where she was with a fresh C-Section wound,” said Hunter. “Since her production was low in the beginning (which is normal), NICU asked if they could ‘top’ off the feedings with formula to give the baby calories it needed. She pumped her heart out and was so worried that, since the baby got a bottle from the beginning of his life, that he would never nurse.” Hunter is also part of the breastfeeding initiative sponsored by UAMS’ State Physical Activity and Nutrition, a CDC grant to combat obesity.

Clint did what he could to help in supplying the baby with breastmilk. He walked the freshly pumped milk upstairs to NICU every two hours and washed the breast pump between sessions.

Carson was born on a Friday, but it wasn’t until Sunday that he got to feed at his mom’s breast.  He transitioned well, though, and every two hours he would latch on with supplements ceasing the following day.

“All in all, I was only able to breastfeed six months, and then I had to pump because I went back to work as a teacher,” Stacy said, who teaches second grade at Hillcrest Elementary in Lynn, Arkansas. Actually, Stacy surpassed the average time moms breastfeed their infants in Arkansas. A recent report by the CDC showed that only 43 percent of Arkansas moms breastfeed to the six-month mark. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all infants be breastfed at least six months to get the full benefits, such as reducing risks of asthma, obesity, Type 1 diabetes and other diseases in infants. But as Stacy’s story illustrates, it’s critical to have the support from healthcare professionals, family and a worksite that is breastfeeding friendly.

She offers this piece of advice to new moms: “Breastfeeding isn’t the easiest route to take and you will have hurdles to overcome, but do your best. It’s worth it.”

WISE study on “Pester Power”

A new study from researchers from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Louisiana Tech University highlights how children’s pester power may influence food consumption and habits at home. The study appears in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Press Release

Article

UAMS Receives $2.5 Million CDC Grant to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening in Arkansas

July 27, 2020 | The UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine has received $2.5 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for a five-year project to increase colorectal cancer screening in Arkansas.

Partnerships in Colorectal Cancer Screening in Arkansas is a project of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine’s Community Health and Education Division. Alysia Dubriske, director of Community Health and Education at UAMS, is leading the program and managing the grant.

Arkansas ranks near the bottom of the list at 34th in the nation for the number of people per capita who are screened annually for colorectal cancer. Nationwide, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths when men and women are combined.

The American Cancer Society predicts 1,540 Arkansans will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2020 and 610 will die of the disease. According to CDC guidelines, people over the age of 50 should be screened annually for colorectal cancer, and people with a family history of the disease should start at a younger age.

Alyisia Dubriske

Alysia Dubriske

“This grant allows us to address these disparities in Arkansas by working with both health care providers and the public,” Dubriske said. “We will educate providers on evidence-based approaches for increasing colorectal cancer screening and then partner with them to implement those interventions. This will be supported by a communication campaign directed at the public so they better understand the importance of screening.”

The approaches include automatic reminders for health care providers to touch base with patients who are overdue for screenings, increasing public awareness about screening though media and communication efforts, and reducing structural barriers that allow Arkansans in rural areas access to prevention, early stage diagnosis, and treatment.

The program will target primary care clinics, especially in counties with low screening rates and low average household incomes. The program will work directly with providers to teach them best practices and help them implement the techniques in their clinics.

“Ultimately, our goal is to reduce the amount of late-stage colorectal cancer in Arkansas and the number of colorectal cancer deaths in Arkansas,” Dubriske said. “Colorectal cancer is a highly treatable disease, especially if caught early, and we know that screening saves lives. We’re looking forward to partnering with clinics to make a difference.”

UAMS will work with Federally Qualified Health Centers and Arkansas’ Quality Improvement Organization to implement the project.

New Faculty Member joins DFPM-RED

Dr. Kanna Lewis has joined DFPM-RED as an Assistant Professor as of July 1. Dr. Lewis received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Maryland and published five peer-reviewed manuscripts while pursuing her doctoral degree. She previously was employed at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where she developed and implemented various term structure models used for simulation, decomposition analysis, and evaluation of key metrics such as inflation expectation, term premia, expected short rate, and risk measures.

Dr. Lewis will continue current projects with Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) as well as new projects with DFPM-RED’s Dr. Lorraine McKelvey.

ACHI Bio

KATV Features New Resource for Parents During Covid-19

DFPM-RED’s Dr. Nikki Edge recently appeared on KATV to talk about a new resource for early care and education professionals and the children and families they serve. New Health Department guidelines now require that teachers caring for young children wear masks. While this is important for health and safety reasons, it can be confusing and upsetting to young children. Young children often have a hard time recognizing loved ones who change their appearance (for example, by shaving a beard or changing a hairstyle) and masks are a big change! Other children associate masks with ‘bad guys’ from the cartoons or have memories of scary Halloween masks.
The DFPM RED team collaborated with colleagues at A-State and ARBEST to develop a mask story primarily for teachers and parents of children under the age of 6. This story helps prepare children for what they will experience with their teacher (or other adults) and helps them understand that masks are safe and not scary. With the help of DHS, this story is being printed for distribution to every licensed child care program in AR.

See the KATV story here.