Feb. 21, 2018 | A new technology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) reduces from days to hours the time it takes to identify pathogens associated with life-threatening blood-borne infections.

The FDA-approved Accelerate Pheno(TM) system also quickly identifies which antibiotic would be most effective on a case-by-case basis. It is the latest addition to the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory’s array of industry-redefining technologies for the identification and treatment of infectious diseases.

“We are one of the first in the world introducing this technology,” said Eric Rosenbaum, M.D., M.P.H., medical director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory and assistant professor in the Department of Pathology. “The way it works is nothing short of revolutionary – part of a wider renaissance in clinical microbiology we are experiencing. But more importantly, it provides our clinicians and patients life-saving results at speeds never before possible.”

Conventional methodology takes at least two days to identify a pathogen and about three days for the antibiotic results. The Accelerate Pheno can identify a pathogen in one hour and identify a treatment in a matter of several hours.

“For critically ill patients with blood infections, hours compared to days can save lives – this marks a major change in the way UAMS now approaches these complex illnesses,” Rosenbaum said.

“Our faculty physicians are dedicated to generating and advancing new biomedical knowledge that improves health, since new knowledge drives clinical care,” said Pope L. Moseley, M.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine. “Dr. Rosenbaum’s progressive and innovative approach to clinical pathology will result in additional life-saving care for many Arkansans.”

Most significant is the ability of the Accelerate Pheno to test a pathogen’s susceptibility to various antibiotics and provide a score indicating which antibiotic would be most effective.

“This feature is new and unique,” Rosenbaum said. “It means we are getting patients on the most appropriate antibiotic days faster, off more-expensive and sometimes toxic broad spectrum antibiotics and on the road to recovery.”

The Accelerate Pheno is an example of how innovators and tech-minded individuals are changing the world of medicine.

Previously, the method of testing samples had remained essentially unchanged since its inception decades ago. It involved putting a sample from the patient in a dish, allowing it to grow, and then identifying the pathogen using relatively prolonged biochemical testing.

Instead, the Accelerate Pheno uses a technology called morphokinetic cellular analysis. Video of a pathogen’s growth is recorded and computer algorithms compare it to an archive of growth pattern information – a first-ever application of this technique in clinical microbiology.

The Accelerate Pheno is just one of several technologies at the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory that improve identification of diseases, including tuberculosis, meningitis, drug-resistant infections, influenza and others.

By Amy Widner| February 21st, 2018 |

Feb. 20, 2018 | Betul Gundogdu, M.D., has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as a neurologist specializing in neuromuscular disorders.

She sees patients in the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute’s Neurology Clinic. She provides electromyography, which measures nerve and muscle function using electrical activity and is used in diagnosing a range of conditions, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), myasthenia gravis and muscular dystrophy.

Neuromuscular specialists treat disorders that affect the peripheral nerves and muscles. Additional examples include peripheral neuropathies, Guillain Barre Syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy and myopathies.

Gundogdu also is an associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Neurology.

“Dr. Gundogdu is an excellent teacher and physician and we are glad – for the benefit of our residents and patients alike – that she is joining our growing neurology team. Her extensive training at the fellowship level indicates a level of expertise that speaks for itself,” said Robert L. “Lee” Archer, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Neurology.

Gundogdu received her medical degree from Istanbul University Capa School of Medicine in Istanbul, Turkey, and completed her neurology residency in at the University of Chicago Hospitals in Chicago. She completed a fellowship in Electromyography/Clinical Neurophysiology from the University of Chicago Hospitals. She had further training in Neuromuscular Diseases/Muscle and Nerve Pathology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, as well as Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Gundogdu has been regularly presented with the Best Doctors in Arkansas award from Best Doctors in America Inc. since 2011. In 2014 she was given the electromyography teaching award from graduating residents. Gundogdu holds certifications in American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry, American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine as well as Certification by UCNS for Neuromuscular Pathology.

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UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; hospital; northwest Arkansas regional campus; statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Myeloma Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,834 students, 822 medical residents and six dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses throughout the state, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

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By Amy Widner| February 20th, 2018|

Feb. 16, 2018 | A new name now graces the Lawrence E. Scheving Award plaque outside the Division of Clinical Anatomy’s office on the ground floor of the Daniel W. Rahn Interprofessional Education Building.

Brandi M. Mize accepted the award, given to the first-year medical student with the highest grade in Human Structure, February 12 from David Davies, Ph.D., associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences.

Mize is the 15^th recipient of the award, handed out annually since 2004 to the student who displays the best grasp on a course that includes gross anatomy and aspects of radiology, histology and surgery.

The Scheving Award was established on behalf of the late Lawrence E. Scheving, Ph.D., the first Rebsamen professor of anatomical science. He served as director of the gross anatomy course for 15 years and was a UAMS College of Medicine faculty member for 20 years until his retirement in 1990.

Mize learned of her selection for the award in December in an email a few days after her final exam.

“It’s a proud moment for me and a happy surprise,” she said.

Mize has had an interest in medicine since at least middle school. Her first recollection is an assignment by a science teacher to pick out current activities associated with topics learned in class. Eventually, she realized hers always had to do with medicine.

“It started there and blossomed through high school and college,” said Mize.

She graduated from Arkansas State University with a double major in biology and chemistry. Mize is still deciding what specialty she’ll practice, but she’s fairly certain she wants to be a surgeon so she can have a “hands-on” occupation.

Growing up, she said it was always inspiring to see how a family member was helped by a medical procedure.

“They weren’t themselves, but then a knee replacement or hip replacement would return that person you always knew and loved,” said Mize. “I liked seeing the impact a procedure could have on the patient as well as the family.”

She was heartened as well by the care and attention her grandfather received during a battle with cancer. He passed away in June.

“I saw how the doctors and staff interacted with him and kept him in high spirits, and I want to provide that type of support and care one day,” said Mize. “If he were still here, I know he would be proud.”

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UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; hospital; northwest Arkansas regional campus; statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Myeloma Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,834 students, 822 medical residents and six dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses throughout the state, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

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By Lee Hogan| February 16th, 2018|

Amy Jones, M.S., often studies at a back table at Cheers in the Heights restaurant in Little Rock, where she also waitresses. Over the years she’s come to know the regulars, who include UAMS physicians and researchers.

They’ve watched her grow up there, she said, and they have always encouraged her scholarship. Last summer when she mentioned her plans to apply for UAMS’ new Clinical Research Informatics Certificate program, she got an enthusiastic response from a UAMS faculty physician based at Arkansas Children’s.

“You need to run, not walk towards that opportunity,” he told Jones.

The demand for clinical research informaticists is exploding, and UAMS last fall became the first in the United States to offer a full curriculum in clinical research informatics, with the certificate and master and doctorate degrees. The degree program is offered by the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the College of Medicine with support by the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI).

Today Jones is part of the seven-student inaugural graduate certificate class.

“We’re excited,” said Meredith Zozus, Ph.D., who led development of the curriculum as associate professor and vice chair for academic programs at the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the College of Medicine. “It’s a really big deal at UAMS, and it’s an advance for TRI – our CTSA (Clinical and Translational Science Award) Program.”

The NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) has tasked its 62 CTSAs with making the translational research cycle spin faster. CTSAs are also looking for ways to improve reproducibility of study findings, an issue that received negative publicity nationally in 2015.

Clinical research informaticists could play key roles on both counts. Graduates of the program will learn to design data collection and management processes for clinical studies. Their efforts are a large part of:

• Ensuring that data are of sufficient quality to support study conclusions
• Ensuring data are documented and archived properly so study findings are reproducible
• Integrating clinical research with ongoing clinical care
• Ensuring data quality control in compliance with federal regulations

A Dance

The clinical research informatics program trains professionals to work with investigators to identify the best data source and to design a data flow and a work flow to best capture and clean that information in a way that keeps the translational research cycle turning.  It also trains how to integrate clinical care and clinical research.

For example, a clinical research informaticist would work with researchers and clinicians to devise data capture within routine care through Epic or devices so that one capture of data serves multiple purposes.

“Patients in trials are people in health care, and the research cycle has to operate within health care,” Zozus said. “There’s a dance that has to be choreographed between the data flow and the work flow and between the processes needed for the clinical study and the processes ongoing anyway in the health care environment.”

Wild, Wild West

Zozus said a wake-up call came in 2015 when the journal Nature reported that over half of psychology studies failed reproducibility tests. In addition to the fact that most researchers aren’t trained in data handling, she said the story put a spotlight on another issue in academic research.

“It’s kind of the wild, wild West because the authority and autonomy of individual investigators is so respected in academia, very few institutions have set expectations or standards for documenting or managing research data,” she said. “And today, these activities are undertaken by individuals with varied education and skills.”

Few universities have policies for archiving and maintaining study data, Zozus said. “I think NCATS would like to see its CTSAs fix the research reproducibility issues, and there are now efforts to do so.”

Other Informatics Tracks

The clinical research informatics track is one of four tracks in the new biomedical informatics graduate degree program offered at UAMS. Other new tracks are:

• Translational bioinformatics
• Imaging informatics
• Clinical informatics

Fred Prior, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics, said the beefed-up curriculum is helping fulfill his vision for a nationally recognized graduate program.  It also addresses key clinical and research workforce issues in Arkansas, benefiting students like Jones.

Jones said she’s excited to see where her new clinical research informatics skills will lead. She envisions working in clinical trials in a collaborative environment.

“I have a strong biology background, and some students have strong computational backgrounds,” she said. “That’s the way the real world works, too, especially in science and research. You have to collaborate and use people’s strengths, and the UAMS faculty have been encouraging us to do that.”

More information about the specialty tracks is available on the Department of Biomedical Informatics website, dbmi.uams.edu/education/graduate-programs.

Feb. 13, 2018 — Christopher Trudeau, J.D., an associate professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has been selected for a three-year term on the Roundtable on Health Literacy with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

The private, nonprofit institution provides independent, objective analysis and advice and informs public policy decisions related to science, technology and medicine. The 30-member Roundtable on Health Literacy meets in Washington, D.C. three times a year to develop, implement, and share health literacy practices in the health care community.

“I look forward to contributing my legal perspective to advance the national conversation about how important clear health communication and health literacy are to creating a patient-centered health system,” said Trudeau, the first lawyer to serve on this roundtable.

Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can obtain, communicate, process, and understand the basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

Trudeau joined the UAMS Center for Health Literacy in 2017, providing teaching, consulting, and program work. He was one of seven from the academic world recently chosen to join the roundtable. Others on the roundtable are from government agencies, non-profit organizations and industry.

Trudeau is also an associate professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. He received his law degree in 2002 from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School and served as a professor there for 13 years before coming to UAMS and UALR.

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; hospital; northwest Arkansas regional campus; statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Myeloma Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,834 students, 822 medical residents and six dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses throughout the state, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

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Stroke is a leading cause of death in Arkansas, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

When you suffer from a stoke every second counts. One program through UAMS is making it so more patients across the state can be seen by a neurologist no matter where they live.

Watch the story about AR SAVES from KARK in Little Rock. The story features Curtis Lowery, M.D., chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and medical director for the Center for Distance Health.

Time seemed to have run out for Larry Guthrie, 49, on April 27, 2017.

But the statewide tele-stroke network and quick-responding emergency medical professionals in Bald Knob and Searcy all saved him precious time in stroke treatment and ensured that the saved time meant a saved life.

The tele-stroke network, the Arkansas Stroke Assistance through Virtual Emergency Support (AR SAVES) at UAMS, uses a high-speed video communications system to help provide immediate, life-saving treatments to stroke patients 24 hours a day. The real-time video communication enables a stroke neurologist to evaluate whether emergency room physicians should use a powerful blood-clot dissolving agent within the critical four-and-a-half-hour period following the first signs of stroke. That’s what it did for Guthrie, too.

April 27 started out like any other for Guthrie. After finishing his lunch at home that day, he returned at 1 p.m. to work at his job as street superintendent for the city of Bald Knob. It was the last time for some time that he would remember feeling well. Minutes later, he lost his ability to speak, and co-workers called an ambulance and his daughter, Kayla Webb.

“I didn’t recognize the symptoms at first because I didn’t lose functions in my arms and legs,” Guthrie said later. “I was still walking and could move my arms. I lost my speech. I could not talk.”

Northstar EMS paramedic Jason Pugh and EMT Tim Wisinger on seeing Guthrie in his work place immediately suspected his loss of speech was due to a stroke. They called ahead to the Unity Health – White County Medical Center in Searcy so the Emergency Department there would be ready to treat him when they arrived.

• 1:20 p.m. — Pugh and Wisinger arrived at Unity with Guthrie, and Guthrie immediately received a CT scan. That scan revealed a blood clot on his brain stem in the basal artery. The brain stem controls vital functions like breathing. Unity Health nurse Deonna Wisler and Guthrie consulted via the AR SAVES live video network with Benedict Tan, M.D., a stroke and neurocritical care specialist with AR SAVES and assistant professor in the Department of Neurology.
• 1:40 p.m. — A clot-busting medication, alteplase, was given to Guthrie under Tan’s direction.
• 2:20 p.m. — Guthrie arrived by helicopter air ambulance at UAMS Medical Center and was transferred to surgery.
• 2:25 p.m. — Guthrie started to experience difficulty breathing, and UAMS physicians inserted a tube into his trachea so a ventilator machine could breathe for him.
• 2:46 p.m. — Sertac Akdol, M.D., a UAMS interventional radiologist and instructor in the Department of Radiology, began surgery to remove the clot.
• 3:11 p.m. — Akdol extracted the clot.
• 3:18 p.m. — Blood flow was restored to Guthrie’s brain stem, and he was moved to a room in the medical center’s intensive care unit.

Within a day after treatment, Guthrie had recovered most of his motor functions and his breathing tube was removed. He was discharged from UAMS Medical Center four days later.

“The expectancy with basal artery occlusion and stroke is slim to none,” Akdol said. “You expect them to pass away following one. There’s almost no hope in this type of situation. His survival was due to the quick action, and I can tell you the gears were well oiled.”

Both Akdol and Tan credited the AR SAVES network and the speed with which all members of the care team responded, from Northstar to Unity Health Hospital to UAMS.

“In this case the credit goes to a combination of the patient’s family, rapid response, AR SAVES, Unity Health Hospital and UAMS,” Tan said. “If one of those links was missing, he probably wouldn’t have survived. AR SAVES played a crucial role in responding to him in Searcy and transferring him to UAMS in the fastest possible way.”

By May 2017, Guthrie returned to work and has since experienced no symptoms. He said he is now more diligent about taking his blood pressure medication and monitoring his diabetes.

In addition to Tan and Akdol and the personnel at Unity, Guthrie said Northstar ambulance personnel also were key to his timely treatment.

“Those guys never get noticed for what they do,” Guthrie said. “I’ve been there and worked as a volunteer in an ambulance service and was a volunteer firefighter for 30 years. I know what they go through.”

On Nov. 14 accompanied by his wife, Anita and daughter, Guthrie reunited in the trauma room of the White County Medical Center with Pugh, Wissinger, Wisler and other staff at the Searcy hospital. Tan and Akdol spoke to him through an AR SAVES video connection.

Both Tan and Akdol complimented him on his recovery and his return to an active life. Near the end of their conversation, Tan asked him if he was taking his medication.

After Guthrie confirmed that he was, Tan said with a smile, “Good, because I don’t want to see you again … not on an AR SAVES monitor. We’ll see you outside, not in an ICU, not in an Emergency Room.”

“I don’t want to be there either,” Guthrie said as everyone laughed.

By Ben Boulden| February 12th, 2018|

Have you ever wondered what it’s like behind the curtain at Arkansas’s only Level 1 Trauma Center? THV11 reporter Laura Monteverdi and photojournalist Bre Conyers spent more than 20 hours inside UAMS’ emergency room. The story features Ron Robertson, M.D., professor in the Trauma and Acute Care Division in the Department of Surgery.  Watch their three-part series.

Modern babies move from car seat to stroller to baby swing and back again. Meanwhile, what they aren’t moving is their muscles.

What effect does all of this containment have? What muscles are key as babies work toward developmental milestones? How can baby products have an impact – for better or worse?

These and other questions are the focus of research for Erin Mannen, Ph.D., a mechanical engineer who joined the UAMS faculty in mid-2017 to lead biomechanical studies of the spine, bone and joints. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine.

“Biomechanics is essentially the study of the body in motion,” Mannen said. “We

are looking at infant muscle and motion activity in various positions to get a baseline understanding of how infants are using their muscles in common positions. We want to understand optimal positioning to prevent musculoskeletal problems or motor development delays.”

Mannen is conducting her research with the help of the high-tech gait and motion-detection laboratory at the HipKnee Arkansas Foundation in Little Rock, using technology that fills an entire room. Special cameras at strategic points along the walls create a 3D capture zone. The research subject wears markers that are tracked by the cameras and recorded by the computer software.

“We are able to see how nearly every part of the body is moving,” Mannen said. “We can measure how people move using the cameras, how they load their joints using force plates embedded in the ground, and how their muscles are activating using electromyography.”

Mannen’s research is already being noticed. Two previous – but connected – studies are in the process of being published. Those studies looked at the biomechanics of adults while they carry babies in “babywearing” carrier devices.

Now, Mannen is looking at babywearing’s effect on the babies. Specifically, she wants to know if infants with hip dysplasia can safely spend time in babywearing carriers. It’s also possible that babywearing could have a similar therapeutic impact for babies as the more unpleasant orthopaedic devices that are now standard practice.

The International Hip Dysplasia Institute (IHDI) has featured her work on its website and has provided a $10,160 grant toward the promising research, which is also being funded by a $31,724 grant from Boba Inc., which makes babywearing products.

“It is hypothesized that wearing an infant inward facing in a structured baby carrier results in similar muscle activity and hip positioning as the orthopaedic devices currently used to treat babies with hip dysplasia,” Mannen said. “Appropriate babywearing has the potential to offer parents of hip dysplasia patients a ‘break’ from the cumbersome orthopaedic devices, allowing them to experience the many benefits of babywearing while not endangering their baby’s hips.”

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Chairman C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., said research is an important part of the department’s mission.

“By researching the structure and function of human movement in a

variety of contexts, the goal is to improve the development and assessment of orthopaedic interventions and better understand injury prevention,” Barnes said. “Having researchers like Dr. Mannen on our team not only furthers medical knowledge, but has the potential to inspire students to be the kind of innovative thinkers they need to be and directly impact patient care.”

Mannen became interested in this line of research as a new mother. She used a babywearing carrier to soothe her first child, who was colicky and had trouble sleeping. While the emotional benefits of babywearing are well-established in the medical literature, she found the biomechanical research lacking.

Similarly, as she learned about how to safely put her baby to sleep on its back to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), she also learned that preliminary research had indicated this sleeping position – while excellent at reducing the rates of SIDS – combined by a general lack of “tummy time” for babies had reduced the development of muscles in babies’ necks and upper backs. She wanted to learn more.

While the babies were hooked up to the sensors during the tummy time research, she happened to watch their biomechanics and muscle firing as they rolled over. She looked to the established research on such developmental milestones for infants and found it lacking. The biomechanical changes behind rolling over, crawling and other milestones will likely be her next research pursuit.

“Often the inspiration for research comes from personal experience,” Barnes said. “That’s one of many reasons I’m proud of the diverse team we have in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Everyone brings something a little different to the table, and they are encouraged to bring their interests to bear, whether it’s for research or finding novel ways to serve our patient communities.”

In other research at the gait lab, Barnes is studying how joint replacements affect golf swing in athletes. Simon Mears, M.D., Ph.D., is studying safe yoga practice in hip and knee replacement patients.

“With this technology, we are limited only by our imaginations,” Mannen said.

By Amy Widner | February 8th, 2018

Feb 6, 2018 | The UAMS Foundation Fund Board recognized four honorees Feb. 1 at UAMS’ annual All Boards Luncheon with lifetime achievement awards in gratitude for their decades of service and philanthropy to UAMS.

Also at the luncheon, UAMS Interim Chancellor Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., presented a Chancellor’s Award to state Senate President Pro Tem Jonathan Dismang and state House of Representatives Speaker Jeremy Gillam for distinguished service and leadership in supporting the resources and mission of UAMS.

The UAMS Foundation Fund Board works to advance the mission of UAMS by securing private financial support for its activities.

Jo Ellen Ford and Lee Ronnel, both of Little Rock, were named by the Foundation Fund Board as inaugural recipients of the P.O. Hooper, M.D. Volunteer Leadership Award. Hooper, along with seven other Little Rock physicians, in 1879 helped found what is now UAMS. The award recognizes UAMS donors for their exceptional support of the institution’s mission through volunteerism, leadership, and philanthropy. Like Hooper, they inspire, lead and motivate others to shape the future of the institution.

John Shock, M.D., founding director of the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, and Kent Westbrook, M.D., distinguished professor in the College of Medicine, were named by the Foundation Fund Board as inaugural recipients of the Harry P. Ward, M.D. Visionary Award. The award recognizes current or former employees for their extraordinary ability to envision, promote and utilize philanthropy to transform the landscape and constitution of UAMS.

Ward, UAMS chancellor from 1979-2000, is remembered as a giant in the history of health care and higher education in Arkansas. A man of determination and commitment, he led UAMS’ transformation from a small medical school with a charity hospital into a health sciences university and research leader.

“Today, we honor our volunteer and employee leaders, who have, through generous donations of their time and talent, made a better future for health care in Arkansas,” said William Clark, chair of the UAMS Foundation Fund Board.

“Congratulations to Dr. Shock, Dr. Westbrook, Lee Ronnel, Jo Ellen Ford – we not only commend you, but are in awe of your extraordinary impact and impressive legacies,” said Lance Burchett, vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement.

Ford, along with her husband Joe, is a member of the Society of the Double Helix and had an instrumental role in creating both the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Auxiliary. She is a lifetime member and a former chair of the Foundation Fund Board, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging Community Advisory Board, and the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Foundation Fund Board.

“I’m very grateful for this award,” Ford said. “I want to say thank you to my husband, who has always encouraged me to do whatever I felt led to do, whether it was Bible study fellowship or working at the university hospital in the cancer center and the aging center. It’s been a wonderful blessing to me to be able to help in this area.”

Ronnel, along with his wife Dale and their extended family, has been a dedicated and passionate supporter of UAMS for more than four decades. Ronnel is a member and former chair of the University of Arkansas Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors, and a former member and chair of the UAMS Foundation Fund Board. The Ronnels, members of the Society of the Double Helix, have given millions to UAMS over their long history with the institution and have begun a scholarship program for the College of Medicine.

“It’s indeed an honor to receive the P.O. Hooper Volunteer Leadership Award,” Ronnel said. “It has been both an honor and a pleasure to have served as chairman of the UAMS Foundation Fund Board as that board’s representative to the University of Arkansas Foundation. I will treasure the Hooper Award, and I thank you for making me one of the first recipients.”

Shock joined the College of Medicine as chair of the Department of Ophthalmology in 1979, when there was only one other full-time faculty member in that department. He significantly expanded the department’s faculty and increased patient visits from about 6,000 annually to almost 20,000. Shock was one of the first to develop the ultrasonic cataract machine and established the Jones Eye Institute. He was interim dean of the College of Medicine from 2000 to 2002 and was UAMS executive vice chancellor from 2002 to 2009.

“I would like to thank the UAMS Foundation Fund Board for naming me a recipient of the Harry P. Ward Lifetime Achievement Award,” Shock said. “Dr. Ward was a master builder, and set the stage for enormous campus expansion that occurred during his tenure. He did this by giving people like Kent Westbrook and myself the opportunity and encouragement to build programs which he thought contributed to the whole. He also openly welcomed individuals who were like-minded, that shared his vision to build a campus of which we all can be very proud.”

Westbrook, a 1965 College of Medicine graduate, worked with colleagues throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s to develop comprehensive, multidisciplinary cancer programs at UAMS, culminating in the 1984 formation of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, the predecessor of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. He served as its director for 14 years and was chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology from 1992 to 2003. Westbrook served as interim chair of the Department of Surgery from 1999 to 2002 and as interim vice chancellor for UAMS Development and Alumni Affairs, now the Division of Institutional Advancement, in 2011. He has been an associate dean and a member of the Chancellor’s Cabinet.

“It’s really thrilling to me to receive this Harry P. Ward Visionary Award,” Westbrook said. “It’s a great honor. When my wife and I came to this campus 56 years ago, I had no concept of winning an award like this. This award came about because James Suen and I had a dream of a cancer center, and I really thank all of the people who were involved in the development of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.”

Each honoree received a plaque with their name and engraved portrait. Copies of the plaques will be displayed on a commemorative wall outside the Chancellor’s Suite in the Central Building on the main UAMS campus.

Gardner commended Dismang and Gillam for their advice and support for UAMS’ mission.

“We are eternally grateful for that,” Gardner said. “Your contributions will impact the patients, students and others we serve for many years to come.”

Gardner also recognized UAMS supporters state Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, chair of the Senate Public Health Committee, and state Rep. Deborah Ferguson, vice chair of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.

By Benjamin Waldrum | February 6th, 2018