The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received a $420,000 gift from the estate of Jack T. Steele, M.D., to finalize the creation of the Jack T. Steele, M.D. Endowed Chair in Family and Preventive Medicine in the College of Medicine.

Jack T. Steel, M.D.

Endowed chairs allow UAMS to recruit and retain top leaders in the medical field who can provide the best care for patients. A chair is established with gifts of at least $1 million, which are invested and the interest proceeds used to support the educational, research and clinical activities of the chair holder. An endowed chair is among the highest academic honors a university can bestow on a faculty member.  Those named to a chair are among the most highly regarded scientists, physicians and professors in their fields. UAMS will announce a professor to the Steele Chair at a later time.

Steele, a 1952 College of Medicine graduate and longtime supporter of UAMS, died March 6. Over several years, he gave more than $620,000 toward the creation of an endowed chair. Together with the $420,000 estate gift, Steele’s combined lifetime giving to UAMS exceeds $1million.

“We are grateful for the late Dr. Steele’s generosity and longtime support for our university and college,” said Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine. “As a family physician, Dr. Steele understood how important primary care physicians are for our patients and communities, and this has never been more true than today. The Jack T. Steele, M.D., Endowed Chair in Family and Preventive Medicine will support outstanding education and training of family physicians for generations to come.”

“Practicing medicine was integral to my dad’s identity,” said son Jeffrey Scott Steele, M.D. “He had a difficult time retiring completely from his practice and continued to work at least part-time, well beyond the age when most would have retired. Even after retiring he maintained his state medical license and satisfied the required continuing medical education.”

Steele was born in 1926 in Lynn, Arkansas, and moved to Walnut Ridge at age 3. He was a cadet at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1945-1946, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1948 with degrees in psychology and philosophy. In 1952, he graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine (now UAMS), and completed an internship with the St. Louis City Hospital. He then served as a Navy physician from 1954-1956. Steele had a longtime medical practice in the greater St. Louis area, including Ferguson and Bridgeton. Four of his sons are physicians.

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

March 2, 2020 | Incarcerated women who are new breastfeeding moms at the J. Aaron Hawkins Sr. Center in Wrightsville, Arkansas, will have access to over 200 pounds of breastfeeding supplies recently donated by Medela, a leading manufacturer of breast pumps in the United States.

The donation came about through UAMS’ partnership with the Hawkins’ Growing Together program. Growing Together was formed to support the needs of incarcerated pregnant and postpartum women in Arkansas. It includes a lactation program, prenatal education classes, and a mental health support group. Childbirth support will launch soon as part of a pilot grant provided by UAMS’ Translational Research Institute.

Marybeth Curtis, B.S.N., a nurse educator in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, saw the need for breastfeeding supplies and contacted Medela.

Medela gave hospital-grade breast pumps, storage bags, maternity and nursing shirts, lanolin, and other products to the new breastfeeding initiative. The items were donated through Hope Rises, a Little Rock non-profit that offers services to women impacted by addiction, trauma and incarceration.

Annemarie McGahagan, SPAN nutrition coordinator at UAMS, is breastfeeding coordinator for the CDC State Physical Activity and Nutrition grant that helps support Growing Together.

“When Annemarie shared with me the need for breast pumps and supplies for the Growing Together program, my first response was to reach out to Medela,” said Curtis. “I have always been amazed at their generosity. I have learned that acts of charity are waiting all around us once you make the need known.”

Melissa Zielinski, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, spearheads UAMS’ involvement with Growing Together.

“Gender-responsive programs like Growing Together are critical. Many people don’t realize that over 75% of incarcerated women are of childbearing age and about 4% are pregnant at intake to prison. Few prisons have specialty services available to meet incarcerated pregnant women’s needs. It will take time, but we are working toward that goal,” said Zielinski.

All pregnant women at the Hawkins Unit receive their routine pre- and postnatal care and deliver their babies at UAMS.

Other groups have joined in the Growing Together initiative: UAMS lactation specialists, the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, doctoral-level psychology student interns from UAMS and the University of Central Arkansas who co-lead mental health support groups, retired RNs with the Presbyterian Women USA who teach prenatal classes for the women, and one volunteer who offered to sew lactation capes for the women who would like to use them when breastfeeding during visitation.

For more information, contact Zielinski at mjzielinski@uams.edu.

For the past four years, second-year medical students in the UAMS College of Medicine have called on students in the class behind them to pay it forward as they learn about blood cancers and other diseases that can make a bone marrow transplant a lifesaver.

Year after year, COM freshmen have delivered.

Sophomore Madison Caldwell organized the fourth-annual bone marrow registry drive for freshmen as first-year students completed their hematology/oncology course on Feb. 5. Her classmates Cole Howie, Emily Lorince and Elliot Taylor assisted, helping to distribute the paperwork and sterile swabs students used to collect their own saliva samples.

“Many blood disorders and blood-associated malignancies require bone marrow transplant for treatment, and sometimes bone marrow transplants can be curative for these diseases,” Caldwell explained after the drive. “However, because of our diverse gene pool, it can be difficult to find a match for a patient’s bone marrow. The more people who register to donate bone marrow, the more likely it is that these patients will be able to find a match.”

In fact, at least three UAMS medical students have gone on to donate life-saving bone marrow after registering in drives on campus or elsewhere in previous years.

“The M1s (freshmen) are best able to grasp the importance of bone marrow transplant as they learn about hematology-oncology, which is why we hold the annual registration drive for them,” she said. “I volunteered to lead this year’s drive because I discovered how important bone marrow transplants and the registry are as an M1. This is also a great way to get involved with the M1 class.”

There’s no doubt the tradition will continue. Freshman Chelsea Smith lent a hand this year and plans to lead the drive for next year’s M1s. For her, the opportunity to help future blood cancer patients is personal.

“I had acute lymphoblastic leukemia as a kid, and even though I didn’t need a bone marrow transplant, I saw the difference they made in the lives of other cancer patients,” Smith said. “Experiencing these situations firsthand is very impactful and life-changing.

“We can easily become desensitized to leukemia and lymphoma when studying these diseases academically, and I hope that registering and potentially volunteering to donate bone marrow made leukemia and lymphoma a bit more personally relevant to the med student community. I loved seeing so much participation from my class.”

More than 50 students registered during the drive, and students noted that many other classmates had actually registered at previous drives while in college or through other opportunities.

“I registered at UCA (University of Central Arkansas) four years ago,” freshman Kelley Broadbent said as she kept classmate Austin Squires company while he swabbed the inside of his cheek to collect a sample. “Like many others, I have had a personal impact with cancer, an aunt who struggled and wasn’t able to get a bone marrow transplant,” Broadbent said. “It’s important to be that person who makes a difference for someone else if you can.”

Squires agreed. “This is a chance to potentially help someone with a serious illness, and registering and donating if you match is not that big of a deal,” he said. “If you can save a life, that is pretty cool.”

The UAMS drives were coordinated through DKMS, an international nonprofit bone marrow donor center affiliated with the National Bone Marrow Donor Program.