By Amy Widner

A University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) researcher who is seeking an explanation for why millions of people worldwide do not respond to the current available treatments for high blood pressure has received $1.89 million from the National Institutes of Health to continue this groundbreaking work.

Shengyu Mu, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the UAMS College of Medicine, has devoted his career to understanding the causes behind this common condition. His lab has found evidence to support an emerging theory that the salt-sensitive variety of high blood pressure may actually be an immune disorder.

“Twelve years ago, no one believed there was an immune connection behind salt-sensitive hypertension,” Mu said. “Now it’s a hot topic. My lab has found evidence to suggest this, as have labs at Vanderbilt, Wisconsin and Duke universities. A picture is coming together, and the next step is understanding exactly how it works so we can pave the way for designing immunological strategies of treatment.”

More than 1 billion people worldwide have high blood pressure. In the United States, one in every three adults is living with high blood pressure. It is the leading cause of heart disease and stroke, which are major causes of death in the United States.

Although there are many drugs available to treat high blood pressure, fewer than 50% of patients are able to control their blood pressure with the current options. The work of Mu and others indicates that new drugs targeting the immune system could be key.

“Hypertension is a silent killer. By the time most patients find out they have it, it’s already caused damage,” Mu said. “It is important to identify unknown mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of high blood pressure so we have better options for treating this life-altering and deadly condition.”

Mu’s lab previously found that immune cells, white blood cells called T lymphocytes (T cells), can infiltrate the kidney and stimulate excessive salt retention, resulting in blood pressure elevation.

Mu was able to pinpoint the overall process: When too many of a major subtype of these T cells interact directly with — and actually touch — the cells located in the area of the kidneys that reabsorb salt, the kidney’s absorption of salt increases, thereby impairing the function of the kidneys to filter out excessive salt. Salt-sensitive high blood pressure is the result.

With this current five-year NIH grant, Mu aims to provide, for the first time, evidence and mechanisms of how these T cells interact with kidney cells. Specifically, he will identify the key molecules involved in the interaction between T cells and kidney cells. He will define the signaling pathways involved when the process goes wrong and results in disordered immune activity.

“Dr. Mu’s work has the potential to effect positive change for millions of people,” said Nancy J. Rusch, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. “Hypertension is a common — and frustrating — condition to treat, with major impacts on global population health. Dr. Mu’s breakthroughs in this area are invaluable, and we are gratified to see that the NIH recognizes the importance of supporting his vanguard research.”

In his work, Mu has been aided by Yunmeng Liu, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research associate, and Sung Rhee, Ph.D., an associate professor, both in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology; and Steve Post, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Pathology.

Before coming to UAMS in 2013, Mu received his medical degree from TianJin Medical University in China and a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in Japan. Previously, his work has been published in Nature Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Communications. He has received the New Investigator award and the Research Recognition award from the American Heart Association and the American Physiology Society for his contributions to research.

The UAMS Graduate School Commencement Brunch is an annual event that celebrates family — both in the traditional and non-traditional sense.

Each year, students finishing their Ph.D., M.S. and certificate programs through the UAMS Graduate School meet for a casual brunch. The food is plentiful, but the formal agenda is sparse — in contrast to the regimented affair that is commencement later in the day. Students and their families talk, laugh, reflect and look ahead.

Attendees even get a little silly with a photo booth that provides instant photos, complete with props and signs that say “it was worth the hassle” and “dream big.”

People have fun, and that’s exactly how Dean Robert E. McGehee Jr., Ph.D., intends it to be.

“I really appreciate you being here for one of my favorite events of the year,” McGehee said to the crowd of about 100 at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock. “This celebration is about family, because if it weren’t for family, these students wouldn’t be graduating. So on behalf of the Graduate School, I would really like to thank every single family member who supported our graduates during their journey.”

The 2019 Graduate School class earned 16 doctorates, nine Master of Science degrees, and eight graduate certificates. McGehee said that each student is not only leaving with a degree, they in turn have left their mark on the faculty and administrative staff who worked with them along the way.

“By the time you meet these students on paper as applicants, you matriculate them, get to know them, help them through their Graduate School programs and get them all the way to brunch and commencement, they become family,” McGehee said.

Faculty mentor Jean C. McSweeney, Ph.D., R.N., professor and associate dean for research and co-director of the Ph.D. program in the UAMS College of Nursing, was there to support Laura Helen Hayes, who was in the nursing Ph.D. program. Hayes’ dissertation was about providing long-term care to adults who survived a childhood congenital heart defect.

McSweeney said it’s true that family-like ties develop between student and adviser.

“It’s just such a rewarding experience,” McSweeney said. “You work so closely with them and invest so much time and energy with them, and it’s so wonderful to see them succeed. Dr. Hayes has a very bright future ahead of her. She has already received some funding, and she’s joining our faculty. I look forward to continuing to watch her career grow.”

Chris Bolden — a graduate from the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program who worked with Eric Peterson, Ph.D., in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology on developing a vaccine against methamphetamine addiction — provided the keynote remarks.

Bolden acknowledged the important support he received from his family and mentor, but also thanked his peers.

“I have an amazing group of friends as a result of this journey,” Bolden said. “They became like a family while I was here. During our first year, we would study late at night, we would create study groups and study guides — we would do whatever it took to help each other pass.”

Surveying the crowd, Bolden concluded: “We all made it together.”

By David Robinson

An international research collaboration that includes the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has discovered that aging in nematodes (worms) can be slowed and even reversed by a number of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs, findings that have the potential to extend human lifespan.

The study findings are published in Scientific Reports.

The collaboration was led by Robert J.S. Reis, D.Phil., at UAMS, and Peter Fedichev, Ph.D., a founder of the longevity biotech startup Gero. Other collaborators are from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (SIST) and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT).

The research team identified 10 FDA-approved drug compounds that slowed the aging process in nematodes.

“This gives us a chance to find drugs that could be used in some combination to optimize human lifespan,” said Reis, a professor in the departments of Geriatrics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Pharmacology and Toxicology in the UAMS College of Medicine.

Reis brought extensive experience to the project, including expertise in lifespan research, genetics and model systems to study aging. He led a team of UAMS researchers who created the necessary C. elegans strains for the study and performed the drug testing. A nonparasitic roundworm, C. elegans is one of the most intensively studied animals on the planet. Its genome was the first to be sequenced among multicellular organisms. C. elegans adults typically live just 15-25 days, but their lives can be extended by a variety of mutations and gene-silencing interventions.

Srinivas Ayyadevara, Ph.D., in the Reis group, made a key discovery that mutations in one particular gene extend worm lifespan tenfold ― a world record for any animal. They created a panel of worm strains varying in lifespan across that 10-fold range, which were all genetically identical apart from one or two mutations. They determined the “expression profile” of each strain at several ages, by sequencing their RNA contents, to see if there were features that change predictably with age or lifespan.

Using these data, Fedichev’s group used novel methods to extract an “RNA signature of aging,” which they cross-checked and expanded using previous expression patterns from aging worm strains. They used this signature to search for drugs that tended to reverse the RNA-expression changes that accompany aging by screening the Connectivity Map (CMAP), a database created by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University. CMAP contains information about the effects on gene activity in human cells of almost all available FDA-approved drugs. From the 1,309 drugs in the CMAP database, the researchers found 10 that alter human gene expression in a way opposite to the age-related changes observed for corresponding genes in nematodes.

Six of these drugs had been previously documented to have anti-aging potential, while four had never been studied in that context. All of the tested drugs slowed aging in nematodes. The most efficient compound extended nematode lifespan by 30%.

Reis emphasized how extraordinary these results are. “Previous studies of several thousand pharmacologically active compounds had found less than one in 20 that were able to extend C. elegans lifespan, in striking contrast to our observation of life extension by all 10 drugs predicted to oppose aging, including four drugs for which there were no previous aging data,” he said. “This is remarkably compelling evidence that the expression profile of aging must be conserved from nematodes to humans, and is likely to be fundamental to all animals.”

By Amy Widner

Roger D. Pechous, Ph.D., studies the bacteria that caused the infamous black death of the Middle Ages, shedding light on something old to potentially protect against something new: bioterrorism. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) researcher’s latest work has been published in Infection and Immunity.

Pechous is an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the UAMS College of Medicine. The article, titled “Modeling Pneumonic Plague in Human Precision-cut Lung Slices Highlights a Role for the Plasminogen Activating Protease in Facilitating Type 3 Secretion,” has been published online in advance of the August print edition of the journal.

The bacterium is called Yersinia pestis. Pechous and Srijon Banerjee, a postdoctoral fellow in Pechous’ lab, study pneumonic plague, the severe lung infection caused by Yersinia pestis as it spreads from human to human through inhalation. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies pneumonic plague among the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. When the bacterium is spread by fleas, it is known as bubonic plague. Plague in the bloodstream is called septicemic plague.

“Y. pestis was responsible for three major pandemics in recorded history and continues to be a potential threat worldwide, primarily due to concerns of its release as a weapon of bioterror,” Pechous said. “Human-to-human transmission of plague occurs via the lungs, and is almost always lethal in the absence of timely treatment.”

Banerjee said death from pneumonic plague typical occurs in four to seven days. If antibiotics are not administered within 24 hours of symptom development, it is nearly 100% fatal. It is one of the deadliest bacteria known to man.

“What was unique about this study was its use of real human donor lung tissue, prepared to maintain realistic lung function in the laboratory setting,” Banerjee said. “This allowed us to observe the way Y. pestis would behave in a living human lung and see what makes it so successful at overwhelming its human host.”

Human lung tissue is cut into slices for the experiments in the Lung Cell Biology Laboratory at the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute by coauthor Richard C. Kurten, Ph.D., a professor of physiology & biophysics and pediatrics at UAMS. Kurten routinely acquires lungs from organ transplant donors and processes them for use in research in his laboratory and those of collaborators at UAMS and across the country.

From watching the behavior of Y. pestis in the lung slices in the lab, the researchers were able to pinpoint exactly how the bacteria quickly gains the upper hand.

“We show that Y. pestis hones in on a key cell type and delivers key proteins that interfere with its ability to control infection and initiate an immune response,” Pechous said. “We identify a protein on the surface of Y. pestis that is critical for directing Y. pestis to specifically target this cell type to establish infection.”

“All of this happens quickly,” Banerjee said. “By the time other signals alert the immune system to the severity of the infection, it’s too late. Ultimately, your own immune response is what ends up compromising lung function and leading to death.”

Understanding this process has applications for pneumonic plague and beyond.

For one, it’s important to better understand how Y. pestis functions, so scientists can develop better treatments for the highly contagious infectious disease. While rare today in humans, plague continues to be carried in animals and fleas, from which it can spread to humans.

For example, a 2016 outbreak in Madagascar infected 62 people, killing 26, according to the WHO. Another Madagascar outbreak in 2017 infected 2,348 people, causing 202 deaths. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control reports an average of 1-17 cases per year, mostly in the West, where the disease is carried by rodents.

In addition, the progression of Y. pestis infection in the lungs mimics other lung infections, like severe pneumonia, but on a much faster scale. More broadly, understanding the bacterium helps scientists and public health officials plan for containing disease outbreaks. The research could also lead to the development of alternative treatments, which could be useful if the bacterium ever becomes resistant to antibiotics.

Pechous earned his doctorate from the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been studying bacterial infection since 2001. Banerjee earned his Ph.D. from the University of Calcutta in India.

The Pechous lab is another successful example from the UAMS Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Host Inflammatory Responses, directed by Mark Smeltzer, Ph.D. The center has earned $21 million in funding through the NIH’s Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) program, which aims to provide funding and mentoring to researchers who are early in their careers. Its participants are studying viruses, malaria, cancer, Lyme disease and chlamydial infection. Pechous’ work is funded by the center and a grant from the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

UAMS has six COBRE centers, which are launching new scientific careers, attracting top talent and creating concentrations of expertise on topics like neuroscience, cancer therapy, childhood obesity prevention and pediatrics.

In order to study Y. pestis at UAMS, the Pechous lab uses strict containment facilities and security procedures.

Infection and Immunity is a prestigious peer-reviewed journal published by the American Society for Microbiology that reports key discoveries that help microbiologists, immunologists, epidemiologists, pathologists and clinicians gain new insights into the underlying mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions and develop novel strategies to prevent or treat infectious diseases.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) celebrated the investiture of Ashley Ross, M.D., associate professor and chief of the Neonatology Section, in the Walmart Endowed Chair in Neonatology on May 9 at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

“Endowed chairs create opportunities to invest in professionals who are dedicated to transforming health care delivery and advancing child health,” said Fred Scarborough, president of Arkansas Children’s Foundation. “We are proud to honor Dr. Ashley Ross and Walmart – who has been a partner and supporter of Arkansas Children’s for more than 30 years.”

“We are pleased to celebrate Dr. Ross, who exemplifies the great care we provide patients in the UAMS neonatal intensive care unit,” said UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., M.B.A.

Ross received his medical degree from the UAMS College of Medicine in 2000. He completed his pediatrics residency at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and continued his training with a neonatology fellowship at UAMS and ACH. He joined the Department of Pediatrics Neonatology Section after completing his fellowship in 2006. Ross served as Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship director from 2008 to 2015, earning the College of Medicine’s Residency Educator Award in 2011. Ross was promoted to associate professor in 2012.

Ross was honored with the Chris Hackler Award for Excellence in Medical Ethics at UAMS in 2013. In 2016, along with ACH, he helped established the ACH Nursery Alliance as a statewide collaborative of delivery hospitals focused on improving outcomes for neonates and reducing Arkansas’ infant mortality rate. Ross was named the Neonatology Section chief at UAMS and ACH in 2017. The ACH Nursery Alliance received the Arkansas Children’s Foundation Betty A. Lowe award in 2018 for significantly contributing to the health and wellbeing of children in Arkansas. Ross was honored with the 2019 Ruth Olive Beall Award at Arkansas Children’s for consistently displaying the values of safety, teamwork, compassion and excellence.

In 1987, Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club, committed his company and its resources to raising money for children’s hospitals. Thanks to the countless hours volunteering and fundraising through their partnership with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, Walmart and Sam’s Club associates across the United States and Canada have raised $1 billion and have helped hundreds of millions of children. This represents the largest cash amount raised by a company for a nonprofit.

The Walmart Endowed Chair in Neonatology was established by Walmart in 2007.

Endowed chairs help Arkansas Children’s and UAMS recruit and retain top leaders in the medical field who can provide the best care for patients. An endowed chair or professorship remains one of the highest honors that UAMS and Arkansas Children’s can bestow on faculty members. Those named to a chair are among the most highly regarded scientists, clinicians and educators in their fields.

The UAMS College of Medicine graduated its largest class ever on May 18, but not before honoring their accomplishments and sending them on their way with some sage advice from college leaders and faculty mentors.

“This is my charge to you,” said Matthew Quick, M.D., associate professor of pathology, who was selected by the Class of 2019 to deliver the keynote address from the faculty at Honors Convocation on the evening before the UAMS Commencement. “Keep it real, practice with passion, love your families and patients and stay true to yourself and your beliefs, and you will have the wonderful, fulfilling career in medicine that everyone in this room desires, hopes and prays that you will have.”

Quick encouraged graduating seniors to “be there” for their professional colleagues as well as patients and their own families. He said they will face tough decisions about fellowships, practice decisions and more, and that “sometimes it takes courage to try to align your career with your passions.” In a final pointer, he urged the class to “not let the newfound power of the long white coat” go to their head.

“Remember your roots,” Quick said. “I’m a nerd from Little Rock; that’s me, that’s my roots. Every day I go into work and try to learn something new. I try to be a little better doctor than the day before. Even then, when I retire I still will only know a sliver of what medicine encompasses. Be humble – or medicine will humble you.”

Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., UAMS executive vice chancellor and dean of the College of Medicine, challenged graduating seniors to consider what their patients will expect from them. He said that in his experience, there were three expectations: to have knowledge and embrace lifelong learning; to be worthy of patients’ trust; and to truly care about each patient.

“But here’s the interesting thing,” Westfall said. “These are not just obligations; they are also gifts. They are gifts from our profession to each of us.”

Westfall, an ophthalmologist, read a thank you note from a child he had once treated, a note that expressed joy in the stickers she had received from her “favorite doctor” as well as gratitude for “fixing” her eye. “For me, that’s what it’s all about,” Westfall said.

Leaders including UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., praised the class for a number of achievements. The class was the college’s largest ever with 163 graduates, surpassing the previous record of 160 in 2016. The class also had the largest number of members matching to medical residencies, with every student who wanted a position obtaining one.

Among many awards presented to students, a record 21 seniors received the Roberts Key for maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the full four years of medical school. Other awards recognized excellence in scholarship in specific areas of study, leadership, ethical standards, humanism and compassion.

Students, in turn, honored numerous faculty members and a resident for their teaching. Student-selected awards are listed below. Faculty members also were recognized with Chancellor’s Awards during the COM ceremony and at the UAMS Commencement Ceremony.

Golden Apple Awards
Selected as the most outstanding teacher of the year by a vote of each class

Senior –  Sung Rhee, Ph.D., Pharmacology/Toxicology
Junior –  Lindsey Sward, M.D., Obstetrics/Gynecology
Sophomore – Sung Rhee, Ph.D., Pharmacology/Toxicology
Freshman – Alan Diekman, Ph.D., Biochemistry/Molecular Biology

Gold Sash Awards
Selected by students in all four classes

Noor Akhter, Ph.D., Neurobiology/Developmental Sciences
Jason Chang, Ph.D., Neurobiology/Developmental Sciences
David Davies, Ph.D., Neurobiology/Developmental Sciences
Alan Diekman, Ph.D., Biochemistry/Molecular Biology
Hakan Paydak, M.D., Internal Medicine
Kevin Phelan, Ph.D., Neurobiology/Developmental Sciences
Matthew Quick, M.D., Pathology
Sung Rhee, Ph.D., Pharmacology/Toxicology
Lindsey Sward, M.D., Obstetrics/Gynecology

Red Sash Awards
Selected by the Class of 2019

Anesthesiology
Matthew Spond, M.D.

Biochemistry/Molecular Biology
Alan Diekman, Ph.D.

Emergency Medicine
Rachael Freeze-Ramsey, M.D.

Family Medicine
Scott Dickson, M.D. (UAMS-NE)

Geriatrics
Priya Mendiratta, M.D.

Internal Medicine
Eric Del Giacco, M.D.
Nicholas Gowen, M.D.
John Henley, M.D. (UAMS-NW)
Carrie Hyde, M.D.
Steven McKee, M.D.
Hakan Paydak, M.D.
Juan Carlos Rico, M.D.
Michael Saccente, M.D.
Thomas Schulz, M.D. (UAMS-NW)
Sara Tariq, M.D.
Toby Vancil, M.D.

Neurobiology/Developmental Sciences
David Davies, Ph.D.

Neurology
Neil Masangkay, M.D.

Obstetrics/Gynecology
Lindsey Sward, M.D.
Paul Wendel, M.D.

Ophthalmology
Ahmed Sallam, M.D., Ph.D.

Otolaryngology-Head/Neck Surgery
Jennings Boyette, M.D.

Pathology
Jerad Gardner, M.D.
Matthew Quick, M.D.

Pharmacology/Toxicology
Sung Rhee, Ph.D.

Pediatrics
Michael Angtuaco, M.D.
Katelyn Cushanick, M.D.
Eudice Fontenot, M.D.
Robert Pesek, M.D.
Vildan Tas, M.D.

Psychiatry
Michelle Ransom, M.D.
John Spollen, M.D.

Surgery
Avi Bhavaraju, M.D.
Janina Bonwich, M.D.
Ronda Henry-Tillman, M.D.
Jason Mizell, M.D.
Kevin Sexton, M.D.
J.R. Taylor, M.D.

Faculty members Assisting with Honors Convocation

Hooders
Sung Rhee, Ph.D., Pharmacology/Toxicology
Sara Tariq, M.D., Internal Medicine

Stage Marshal
Sung Rhee, Ph.D., Pharmacology/Toxicology

Faculty Marshal
Alan Diekman, Ph.D., Biochemistry/Molecular Biology

Richard H. Turnage, M.D., FACS, a clinical and academic leader at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) for over a decade, has been named executive associate dean for clinical affairs in the UAMS College of Medicine (COM).

“We are very pleased to have Dr. Turnage again leading clinical initiatives throughout our college,” said UAMS Executive Vice Chancellor and COM Dean Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., FACS. “Richard brings exceptional expertise in clinical operations and a strong commitment to our integrated missions in education and research to this post.”

Turnage was recruited to UAMS as professor and chair of the Department of Surgery in 2008 after leading clinical and academic programs in surgery at other institutions for nearly two decades. During his tenure as chair of the Department of Surgery, Turnage also served as interim chair of two other departments, Urology in 2010-2012 and Radiology in 2012-2014. He assumed a central leadership role in the college with his appointment as executive associate dean for clinical affairs in 2014. He served as interim dean of the college in 2015.

In addition to his college leadership positions, Turnage has been a key leader in UAMS’ clinical operations. As chair of the Hospital Medical Board from 2012 to 2014, he facilitated a heightened focus on patient- and family-centered care, safety, patient satisfaction, and transparent reporting of clinical quality metrics. He subsequently led development and implementation of UAMS’ integrated clinical enterprise and served as chief service line officer. He served as vice chancellor for clinical programs and CEO of UAMS Medical Center from 2016 until returning to the college to assume his current position as executive associate dean in May 2019.

Turnage received his medical degree from the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport in 1983. He completed his residency in general surgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center, serving as chief resident and completing a research fellowship before joining the faculty. He went on to hold faculty and clinical leadership posts at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Dallas VA Medical Center, and later at LSU Shreveport, where he served as chair of the Department of Surgery for seven years prior to his recruitment to UAMS.

By Amy Widner

Does science stop in retirement?

The short answer — according to Gerald A. Dienel, Ph.D. — is no.

The long answer? It’s reflected in the many publications, lectures and contributions Dienel has made since retiring in 2013 as a professor emeritus in the Department of Neurology in the UAMS College of Medicine.

Dienel has 23 post-retirement publications. In 2019, five additional manuscripts are under review or in progress. He has lost count of post-retirement lectures.

“Science has been a part of me my whole life,” Dienel said. “I still really enjoy it. I have 40 years of experience in the field, and I can still contribute. If I start to feel like I don’t have anything more to say, like it’s all just rehashing, then I’ll stop. But right now, I feel like I can still contribute.”

Dienel and his wife, Nancy Cruz, worked together for many years and made significant contributions to the understanding of biological mechanisms in the brain, specifically brain metabolism and the activation of astrocytes, a type of brain cell that provide neurons with the neurotransmitter precursors they need to function.

Dienel’s most significant post-retirement publication occurred in 2018 in Physiological Reviews. It provides an update of the field and evaluates the standing of the field’s major controversies. The manuscript took Dienel seven months of gruelingly long days to write.

“It was almost 100 pages by the time it was all said and done,” Dienel said. “It felt like a second dissertation.”

His most significant lecture was the plenary talk at the International Conference on Brain Energy Metabolism in 2018 in Chile, and he remains involved, serving as program co-chair for the 2020 conference to be held in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

His dedication is no secret among his peers. The November 2015 issue of Neurochemical Research honors Dienel and Cruz and highlights the latest advances that are underpinned by their foundational findings.

His work is both methodical and infused with a passion for science, said Robert L. “Lee” Archer, M.D., chair of the Department of Neurology.

“Gerry’s example is of someone who did not look at their job as just a way to get a paycheck. He looked at it as a way to help with scientific advances,” Archer said. “He is so passionate about it that he still works 10-hour days at home to advance the field. It’s inspirational to me personally, and his work is recognized and appreciated by scientists all over the world.”

Dienel said his post-retirement work started innocently enough. He found himself free of the necessary evils of existence as a modern scientist: no more grant cycles, no more administrative tasks.

“I still had all this data that had never been published,” Dienel said. “Almost every scientist has that problem. Other things tend to get in the way of the science part of the work. I figured now that I have the time, I’ll go ahead and write all that up. That’s how it began, and it just kept going.”

A little over five years later, Dienel said he never would have anticipated most of what he’s done. He has been surprised to discover another role the retired scientist serves: It’s easier for him to be a voice for upholding standards in the field. With his career and legacy already secure, others look to him to take a stand and not be afraid to step on toes in the name of scientific rigor. Several of the publications and commentaries he’s been asked to write have to do with addressing controversies in the field or urging younger scientists to stay true to its basic biochemical concepts.

Is there something unusual about doing all of this for free? Dienel doesn’t think so.

“It’s just like mentoring a graduate student or a postdoc, but on a bigger scale. That’s how I think about it,” Dienel said. “I don’t get paid for it, just like you don’t get paid for mentoring a student, but it’s part of your job, it’s part of your role as a scientist.”

Dienel said everyone approaches retirement differently. For those who miss work or feel like they have more to give, there are options.

“People who retire have whole lifetimes of experience,” Dienel said. “There are unlimited possibilities for how you can put that to use.”

By Katrina Dupins

May. 10, 2019 | A group of women gathered inside a commercial kitchen in Little Rock recently for a UAMS-led culinary medicine cooking class.

Culinary medicine is the practice of helping patients use nutrition and good cooking habits to restore and maintain health. UAMS is developing a culinary medicine program for health profession

students, but this is the first time a class like this has been offered to the community.

Taria Lightner, who works in UAMS nutritional services, served as the chef for the evening. She is a student at the University of Arkansas – Pulaski Technical College Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute.

Laura Norman, a registered dietitian, also offered her expertise. Norman works with patients in the UAMS Fertility and Reproductive Endocrinology Clinic on Mondays and Tuesdays. She organized meal planning for the class and led nutrition discussions.

Lightner started class with the basics: emphasizing the importance of clean hands and sanitized surfaces. Then she showed the students proper techniques for chopping onions and mincing garlic.

Gloria Richard-Davis, M.D., professor and director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, organized the class as an outreach aimed toward patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal disorder that affects one in 10 women of reproductive age. It is a common and treatable cause of infertility. Richard-Davis is board certified in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. She has been working as director of the culinary medicine program.

Women with PCOS often have higher than normal insulin levels, Richard- Davis said. A diet high in refined carbohydrates can make insulin resistance more difficult to control.

A recent study showed that the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) is beneficial to patients with PCOS. The DASH diet is very similar to the Mediterranean diet, but adapted to American taste.

After the eight students practiced chopping and mincing, they separated into three groups. Each group would make one item on the menu. They prepared white fish with a chimichurri sauce, brown rice pilaf and a roasted vegetable medley.

UAMS has adopted the culinary medicine curriculum created by Timothy Harlan, M.D., executive director of the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University. The Goldring Center, which opened in 2013, is the first culinary medicine center in a U.S. medical school. Since then, several schools across the country have adopted Tulane’s curriculum.

“They licensed their courseware to about 52 academic institutions,” Richard Davis said, “There was a collaborative effort among those academic institutions to do research to understand how to better teach patients the appreciation for food as medicine, or as the curriculum says ‘health meets food.’”

“Good nutrition is important to overall health,” Kaylee Lutrell, APRN, told the class. “When it comes to infertility a healthy diet is an important factor.”

Lutrell works in the fertility and endocrinology clinic with Richard-Davis. The class was one way the clinic commemorated Infertility Awareness Week.

“While a healthy diet won’t solve all infertility, it is certainly an added benefit we want all our patients to practice,” she said.

The amount of rainbow colors on a plate is another good indicator your food is nutritious, Lighten told the class.

Once the fish and vegetables were in the oven, and the rice was simmering on the stove, the women cleaned their prep areas and discussed how they could use their newly acquired knowledge.

Angel Smith of Little Rock, one of the students, lives with PCOS and is a patient of Richard-Davis. Smith has been on a weight loss journey and has changed her eating habits to include more fish and seafood.

“When I found out about this class, I thought it could give me more insight on meal ideas,” she said. “The food turned out wonderfully and has a good flavor.”

By Amy Widner

Physician-scientist Donald J. Johann Jr., M.D., has been awarded a $1.47 million grant from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to continue a clinical trial to determine if new approaches can be developed to monitor and screen for lung cancer with a blood test.

Johann is an associate professor in the departments of Biomedical Informatics and Internal Medicine in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

“We’re coming into the long-promised ‘future’ of cancer treatment,” Johann said. “For the last 50 years, the holy grail of cancer research has been being able to detect the presence of cancer with a simple blood test, known as a liquid biopsy, and treat cancer patients on an individualized basis, which is precision medicine.

“Recent advancements in genetic sequencing technology, computational science and the ability to manage massive amounts of data have made this type of research possible,” he said. “The vision is to combine the power of these approaches with clinical knowledge to improve outcomes. This is the future of cancer medicine, and it’s all doable.”

An innovative and important aspect of this approach is called bioinformatics, a new field in research that uses computational tools to assess medical and public health information, often on a large scale, looking for previously unrecognized patterns that can affect medical and public health science in a broad range of ways.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and the world, and the incidence in Arkansas has been higher than the national average for the past 20 years.

Researchers believe precision medicine is key to changing these statistics. The current standard treatment for early stage lung cancer is surgical removal of the tumor, with the addition of chemotherapy/radiation when the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. However, the cancer often returns after two to the three years and is deadly.

With Johann’s clinical trial, the surgeons are taking samples of the tumor at the time of its removal. Back in the lab, Johann’s team is running genetic sequencing on the tumor and re-growing it using different methods. Once the sample tumors are big enough, the team tests existing drugs and novel combinations of existing drugs on the tumors to find the most effective treatment.

This information is analyzed and stored so that if that individual patient’s cancer comes back, their doctors will know the best medicines to use. The information is also compiled in large datasets so that researchers can look for aggregate patterns and identify trends regarding which treatments work best for different types of tumors. The idea is that now scientists will be able to genetically test a tumor to identify the best course of treatment for that individual patient.

Liquid biopsies are important because the average diagnosis for lung cancer patients is about age 70. Patients are often in poor health in addition to battling cancer, and traditional invasive biopsies can lead to complications or death.

Patients in Johann’s clinical trial are giving blood samples at multiple stages of treatment. The research team is determining whether the cellular material shed by tumors into blood can help doctors detect cancer earlier and monitor patients during cancer treatments to improve outcomes. Again, compiling big datasets plays a role.

The liquid biopsy part of Johann’s lung cancer work is also being supported by the Blood Profiling Atlas in Cancer (BloodPAC), a nonprofit consortium for data sharing between stakeholders in industry, academia and regulatory agencies with the goal of making liquid biopsies a reality.

BloodPAC is also supporting liquid biopsy clinical trials at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for prostate cancer, University of Southern California for breast cancer, and University of Pennsylvania for pediatric cancers.

“The collaborative element to this is very important. We are working with three very prestigious, NCI-comprehensive cancer centers to accelerate the development of liquid biopsies for cancer treatment guidance and less invasive clinical care,” Johann said. “We want to catch disease early and operate on it for cure, be able to monitor it effectively, develop model systems effectively and then look at potential therapies to see what would be the best treatment for each patient, instead of just giving everyone the standard treatment.

“The practice of clinical oncology is rapidly changing, and we need to be part of that and contribute. When I came to UAMS, I believed we should be able to do state-of-the-art cancer research and treatment here. I’m proud to be part of this science, the teamwork and potential for our patients.”

Johann’s work on lung cancer has been underway for three years. During previous phases, his team developed the advanced bioinformatics and infrastructure at UAMS that are necessary to handle the large datasets involved in this research, and he brought firsthand knowledge of the latest molecular technologies to UAMS.

Johann completed fellowships in hematology oncology and clinical proteomics, both at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Johann earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He became a physician as a second career, prior to attending medical school he was an engineering group leader for the Unisys Corp. and worked on advanced avionics projects.