The UAMS Center for Health Literacy won Best Poster in Health Literacy recently at the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare and Health Literacy Annual Research Conference held Oct. 8-11 in Baltimore.

The conference was focused on both health care communication and health literacy, meaning the skills to find, understand and use health information to make health decisions. The poster illustrated UAMS’ work to screen patients’ health literacy at UAMS through the electronic medical record platform Epic.

Co-authors on the poster were Kristie B. Hadden, Ph.D., executive director of the Center for Health Literacy; Fred W. Prior, Ph.D., chair of the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Informatics; Latrina Y. Prince, Ed.D., an instructor in the Center for Health Literacy; Rawle A. Seupaul, M.D., professor and chairman of the College of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine; and C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., chair of the College of Medicine’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

The project focused on previous national research that demonstrated that patients want their providers to know when they struggle to understand health information. Additional research showed that a single screening question could predict whether a patient is at risk for struggling with health literacy so that providers can make sure that the information they provide is clear and easy to understand.

More than 58,000 patients have been screened at UAMS in the departments of Emergency Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery, as well as primary care and specialty clinics. Overall, about 79 percent of patients screened as having adequate health literacy.

When patients are identified as at risk for health literacy issues, health care professionals are prompted to use a set of best practices that include encouraging patients to ask questions, reading and explaining complicated material out loud, and limiting the amount of written content. They are also encouraged to use the teach-back method to confirm understanding of complex information, in which health care professionals explain information in plain language, then ask the patient to repeat the information in their own words.

“It is often difficult to confirm understanding with patients; when asked if they understand, patients often reply ‘yes,’ and if they have any questions, they often say, ‘no.’” said Hadden. “You can uncover many misunderstandings or misinformation, and clarify when you ask a patient to explain what they heard in their own words.”

Hadden said the results show that screening patients for health literacy can provide benefits for both health care providers and patients as each will better understand their counterpart and forge a stronger relationship and level of trust.

“This is an example of how we can use informatics for population health care in an innovative way,” said Hadden. “There’s so much more to do with this project and the data. This was just an optimistic first glance.”

UAMS hosted the 2017-2018 American Heart Association (AHA) “Sweethearts” – 70 girls from high schools throughout central Arkansas – during two evenings in October.

AHA Sweethearts is a year-long program that introduces sophomore girls to the importance of heart health, the mission of the AHA, and the region’s investment into heart-related activities.

At UAMS, the students were exposed to a range of research activities, with demonstrations focusing on protein engineering, clinical simulations, heart and kidney functions and cancer.

UAMS organizers were former AHA Established Investigator Award recipients Jerry Ware, Ph.D., a professor in the College of Medicine Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and Steve Post, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Pathology.

Other faculty participants included assistant professor Aime Franco, Ph.D., and professor K.I. Varughese, Ph.D., of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics; Nishank Jain, M.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine Division of Nephrology; and Kevin Phelan, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences. James Marsh, M.D., Nolan Professor and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, welcomed the students and stressed the importance of AHA-sponsored research to UAMS.

Ware, Post and Varughese have supported AHA research activities and have received AHA support in the past. Jain currently holds an AHA Scientist Development Award.

LITTLE ROCK – The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded an $8.3 million grant to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) for expansion and enhancement of an archive containing freely accessible cancer medical images and data.

The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) is a free online service that hosts a large collection of cancer-related medical images available for public download. All patient identification has been removed from the images and supporting data, which include outcomes, treatment details, genetic information, pathology reports and expert analyses when available. Since its formation about seven years ago, TCIA data has been used to produce almost 500 academic papers.

In 2015, the archive moved from Washington University in St. Louis to UAMS when its lead principal investigator, Fred Prior, Ph.D., took the position as the first-ever chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the College of Medicine. Prior assumed leadership of the TCIA project during his tenure at Washington University. Additional principal investigators on the project are Ashish Sharma, Ph.D., of Emory University in Atlanta and Joel Saltz, M.D., Ph.D., of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York.

The grant, titled “TCIA Sustainment and Scalability: Platforms for Quantitative Imaging Informatics in Precision Medicine,” supports the TCIA by expanding its capacity to provide data-driven information and images for use in research studies; adding new high-quality data collections; and encouraging the engagement, collaboration and dissemination of information among the research community.

“Since 2011, the Cancer Imaging Archive has encouraged and supported cancer-related research by acquiring, curating, hosting and managing collections of images and other data essential to the discovery process. This grant will allow us to undergo the continuous improvements and expansion necessary to provide the large collections of data required to test and validate cancer research studies for years to come,” said Prior, professor in the Department of Bioinformatics in the UAMS College of Medicine.

Biomedical informatics uses computers, rather than traditional laboratories, to extract knowledge from large sets of data. Under Prior’s leadership, the UAMS department has grown to include about 50 faculty and staff members responsible for developing computational tools to assess and manage medical and public health information for  research programs.

The ultimate goal of the archive is the advancement of precision medicine, which allows for therapies to be tailored to the individual needs of each patient based on the specific makeup of his or her cancer. Prior and his team are accomplishing this goal by using computers to read and understand medical images in new ways and by applying these tools across multiple formats, from microscope images of tumor biopsy samples to CT images of the lung.

Prior’s research team for this grant includes Lawrence Tarbox, Ph.D.; Mathias Brochhausen, Ph.D.; Tracy Nolan; Kirk E. Smith; William C. Bennett; Roosevelt D. Dobbins; Diana Stockton; and Sean M. Berryman.

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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 Susan Van Dusen | October 31st, 2017 |

Pediatric allergist and immunologist Josh Kennedy, M.D., wants to help kids with asthma avoid the life-threatening complications that too often develop from a simple cold.

Neurosurgeon Analiz Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D., hopes to improve immunotherapies for cancer by better understanding why the body’s immune cells sometimes convert to a form that helps tumors grow.

Emergency medicine physician Michael Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., wants to find new ways to treat patients with opioid addiction and to improve care in the Emergency Department for those who are vulnerable to suicide.

These goals spurred all three UAMS College of Medicine faculty members to pursue careers as physician-scientists – and drew them to the college’s Clinician-Scientist Development Program.

As the third group of trainees to join the program since it was established in 2015, Kennedy, Rodriguez and Wilson are receiving substantial protected time for research for three years. Clinical work done in their remaining time provides the basis for their research and their pursuit of research funding.

Participants receive individual mentoring, specially tailored educational programs and access to activities with other clinician scientists and research training groups. Individual development plans are formulated annually for each member, and progress is evaluated twice a year by the program’s faculty advisory board.

The program receives funding support from UAMS’ Integrated Clinical Enterprise.

The aim is to increase the ranks of specially trained physician-scientists, who are vital in efforts to translate new biomedical knowledge into better clinical care. It is designed to help new clinician-scientists become independently funded for their research in today’s difficult extramural funding environment and to help them build fulfilling careers.

“For early-career physician-scientists to be funded by the National Institutes of Health, they have to be at the peak of their game,” said founding Director Charlotte Hobbs, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of pediatrics and executive associate dean for clinical and translational research. “They are only going to be funded if their grant application scores in the top 10^th to 15^th percentile. To accomplish that, they’ve got to have excellent mentoring and protected research time as well as enthusiasm and passion. That all comes together in our Clinician-Scientist Development Program.”

“I am really, really excited about this group of individuals,” said Hobbs, a pediatric hospitalist, epidemiologist and national leader in birth defects research who has received more than $100 million in external grant funding over the past 21 years. “All evidence points to these three new members having the appropriate background, early training and drive to have really outstanding careers as physician-scientists.”

Hobbs noted that the Clinician-Scientist Development Program was part of the recruitment effort for both Wilson, who joined the college’s Department of Emergency Medicine as an assistant professor in January and now also holds an appointment in the Department of Psychiatry, and Rodriguez, who joined the Department of Neurosurgery as an assistant professor in July.

“The presence of a well-established program run by a clinician-scientist was a big draw to coming to UAMS,” said Rodriguez. “Becoming a successful surgeon scientist is quite difficult, especially because of the clinical demands. The Clinician-Scientist Development Program’s protected research time, mentorship and professional resources, as well as the focus on collaborative work, are very important to me.”

Rodriguez earned her doctorate in pathology in 2008 and her medical degree in 2009 in the NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She completed her neurosurgery residency at Wake Forest University Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., where she was awarded an American Association of Neurological Surgeons Neurosurgery Research Education Foundation research fellowship for her work in glioblastoma.  She also was a Council of State Neurosurgical Societies Socioeconomic Fellow and a Congress of Neurological Surgeons Leadership Fellow during her residency. She continued her training in neurosurgical oncology as fellow at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, where she specialized in immunotherapy trials.

“My research focuses on the tumor microenvironment,” Rodriguez said. “A person’s immune system can sometimes fight cancer cells. However, oftentimes the immune cells recruited to the tumor site are converted to a phenotype that actually makes them able to help cancer cells grow. My laboratory is interested in understanding how this happens and how we could convert the immune cells back to an anti-cancer phenotype.”

As with Rodriguez, the Clinician-Scientist Development Program was a plus for Wilson during his recruitment to UAMS.

“I am very pleased to be working with such a talented and diverse group of clinicians, and I am delighted to be here at UAMS,” said Wilson, who established the Department of Emergency Medicine’s Behavioral Emergencies Research lab. The lab focuses primarily on applied psychiatric emergencies that are of clinical relevance to emergency physicians. Recent projects have centered on suicide screening, agitation in patients, and the side effects of second-generation antipsychotics in an emergency department setting.

“Arkansas ranks No. 10 in the nation in suicide,” Wilson said. “We would like to reduce these preventable deaths to zero.”

Wilson received his medical degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s College of Medicine in 2006 and his doctorate in psychology the same year from the university’s Department of Psychology. He completed his emergency medicine residency at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and continued his training there as a clinical research fellow.

Wilson went on to become associate director of the UCSD Department of Emergency Medicine Clinical Research Scholar Fellowship while serving as an attending physician in the department from 2012 through 2016. He is a reviewer for several academic journals and has published broadly in the field of behavioral emergencies and agitated patients.

Kennedy graduated from the College of Medicine in 2006 and completed his residency at UAMS and Arkansas Children’s Hospital, serving as chief resident of the Medicine/Pediatrics Program in 2009-2010. He continued his training with a fellowship in allergy and immunology at the University of Virginia Health Systems in Charlottesville, where he began his research into the relationship between the rhinovirus and asthma.

“Sixty to 80 percent of children who are seen in the Emergency Department for asthma exacerbations will have evidence of the rhinovirus – the common cold,” Kennedy said. “Unfortunately, we do not understand the mechanisms of the rhinovirus that cause this very dangerous situation.

“We are studying the differences in the immune response to this virus between those with and without asthma. We hope that our research will lead to targeted approaches to keep children out of the Emergency Department.”

Kennedy joined the faculty in 2013 as an assistant professor of pediatrics and internal medicine in the Allergy and Immunology Section of the Department of Pediatrics. His research career got a kick start that year with a KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Scholar Award from the UAMS Translational Research Institute. In 2016 Kennedy received a five-year, $877,000 K08 training award from the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which provides salary and laboratory support for his investigations.

The Clinician-Scientist Development Program is providing additional support for his lab – but Kennedy said the program’s benefits are much broader.

“The program brings together young investigators from different specialties across UAMS,” he said. “We are able to share ideas, discuss data and provide support to other clinician-scientists with different backgrounds and experiences. The university is large and clinician-scientists are relatively few in number. I doubt that I would be able to do this without the program.”

Rodriguez agreed. “It is easy to get isolated on a large campus,” she said. “The Clinician-Scientist Program provides opportunities to discuss pitfalls and successes with other clinician-scientists at various stages of their careers and research. Being a clinician-scientist is a unique experience, and certain questions can only be answered by colleagues who understand the professional demands from both the clinical and research sides of our world.”

Oct. 26, 2017 — Jacquelyn Bailey of West Memphis has been awarded the Arkansas Mutual Medical Student Award, a scholarship for third-year medical students at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) who want to practice primary care in rural Arkansas.

Bailey, a first generation college graduate, found her inspiration for primary care as she learned about her grandmother, Beatrice Henderson, who died when Bailey was barely a year old.

“My mother attributes much of my grandmother’s death to the notion that doctors did not provide quality medical care because she was African-American and uninsured,” she said. “However, this was not the only instance of lack of care that she received.”

Bailey keeps a medical record of her grandmother’s that shows she had three children, but also five stillbirths. “As I thought about the period in which she lived, my heart became heavy because I knew this was the fate of many black women like her,” she said.

“My grandmother’s life and death have been my inspiration and motivation to become a primary care physician,” she said. “Although racial discrimination was and continues to be a cause for health disparities, it is now compounded by the inability of many working Americans to afford health care.”

Bailey said that she intends to practice family medicine in West Memphis. With a background in epidemiology from the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, she intends to emphasize disease prevention programs to improve community health.

Corey Little, president of Arkansas Mutual Insurance Co., the only medical liability insurance provider headquartered in Arkansas, said the company is deeply committed to improving rural health care in the state.

“We are so pleased to offer this scholarship to such a deserving student as Jacquelyn Bailey,” Little said. “She will make a very fine physician and is clearly committed to improving the health of citizens in medically underserved areas.”

“Our mission as a company is to protect and serve the health care community of Arkansas and this student award is symbolic of that dedication,” Little said. “The award’s focus on rural health care is especially important at this junction in our state’s history and we are proud to be able to make this contribution to our state’s future physicians.”

More than two-thirds of Arkansas’ counties include federally designated Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas. Primary care physician shortages are projected to increase substantially as the state’s population continues to age and require more medical care, and as more Arkansans, now insured as a result of health system reform, seek primary care services.

“Access to high-quality primary care is a significant issue for rural Arkansas, so we are doing everything we can to encourage outstanding students to practice in smaller communities,” said Pope L. Moseley, M.D., UAMS executive vice chancellor and College of Medicine dean. “Scholarships are a powerful tool in this effort, and we are grateful to the folks at Arkansas Mutual for their ongoing investment in students who plan to dedicate their careers to rural Arkansans.”

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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 Ashley McNatt| October 26th, 2017

Oct. 25, 2017 | Four early career UAMS researchers were recently selected to receive KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Scholar Awards.

The KL2 Scholar program at the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI) provides two years of research training to junior faculty. It provides 75 percent salary support and up to $25,000 per year for research, tuition, travel and education. The scholars, all from the UAMS College of Medicine, are:

Lisa Brents, Ph.D.
Instructor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Her research is focused on improving buprenorphine treatment of opioid use disorder during pregnancy by reducing fetal exposure to an active metabolite of buprenorphine, norbuprenorphine.

KL2 project title: The Metabolic and Pharmacodynamic Profile of Deuterated Buprenorphine

Sufna John, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry.

Her research is examining the impact of early childhood education factors on the effectiveness of therapy services for preschool-aged children who present with disruptive behaviors.

KL2 project title: Improving Outcomes for Young Children with Behavior Disorders: A Coordinated Care Model

Rosemary Nabaweesi, Dr.P.H., M.B.Ch.B., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Center for Applied Research and Evaluation (CARE).

Her research is focused on injury-related infant mortality prevention and reduction of health disparities for rural and underserved populations.

KL2 project title: Developing Safe Sleep Interventions for Rural Underserved Communities

Carolina Schinke, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Myeloma Institute.

Her research is attempting to determine yet undiscovered pathologic pathways in multiple myeloma and to identify new therapeutic targets.

KL2 project title: The Role of Pl-IF 19 as a Promoter of Tumorigenicity and Therapeutic Target in Multiple Myeloma

Fifteen KL2 Scholar applications were reviewed by a study section (committee) made up of faculty members from UAMS and other research institutions. Five finalists were interviewed by senior members of the panel.

This year’s awards are supported by UAMS institutional funds provided to TRI, and funding from Arkansas Children’s Research Institute and the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute.

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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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LITTLE ROCK – Ronda Henry-Tillman, M.D., has been named chief of Breast Oncology in the College of Medicine Department of Surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). She sees patients in the second floor clinics at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

Henry-Tillman has served as a member of the UAMS faculty since 1998 and holds the position of professor in the Department of Surgery and co-leader of the Breast Tumor Disease Oriented Committee in the UAMS Cancer Institute.

After earning her medical degree at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Henry-Tillman completed her surgical residency in the UAMS Department of Surgery and fellowship training in the UAMS Fellowship in Diseases of the Breast program.

She previously served as director of the UAMS Cancer Control program and was instrumental in the development of the university’s mobile mammography program.

Her research efforts have focused primarily on colorectal and breast cancer disparities in underserved populations.

In 2016, Henry-Tillman was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission and was voted chairman in 2017. She also is a member of the Breast Cancer Control Advisory Board and is a Pulaski County health officer for the Arkansas State Board of Health.

Her national memberships and professional activities include the American Surgical Association, Society of Surgical Oncology, Southern Surgical Association and multiple committees of the National Institutes of Health. She has served as a board member for the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers and the national Health Disparities Committee for the American Cancer Society.

Her Arkansas-based professional activities include serving on the advisory board of the Arkansas Cancer Coalition; committee on applicants for the Arkansas Chapter of the American College of Surgeons; and past president of the Arkansas Medical Dental Pharmaceutical Association.

She has received numerous awards and honors including being named to Best Doctors in America and Castle Connolly’s Exceptional Women in Medicine.

By Susan Van Dusen| October 24th, 2017

Whether it’s her first child or her fifth, the postpartum trip to the doctor can be a hassle for a mother. The UAMS Center for Distance Health has started a new program that will make that visit more convenient.

“Some of our patients travel a very long way to deliver here at UAMS,” said Nirvana Manning, M.D., an associate professor in the UAMS Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the UAMS College of Medicine.

“When they come here and have a baby, it’s often very cumbersome for them to travel back six weeks later for a postpartum visit.”

Recently, UAMS has been using telemedicine to make that visit easier for some patients. Women can visit with a doctor through a laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Nikki Talley had her postpartum visit from a sectional sofa inside her Sheridan home. While her newborn son, Levi, rested comfortably in her arms, she dialed in for her appointment with Manning.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m feeling good. We’re pretty much back to our normal activities and getting acclimated to having three kids.”

The Talley family leads a busy life. Nikki Talley said it was a welcome relief to not have to dress Levi and his older brother and sister, load them into the car, and make the 45-minute drive to Little Rock.

During a virtual visit, Manning asks the mother questions about her overall health. She’s also able to call in prescriptions, if needed, and says it’s a good opportunity to talk about postpartum depression if a patient is having symptoms.

“If there is something that would require a face-to-face appointment, we schedule it at that time,” Manning said.

The program is still in its infancy, so providers are targeting women who are at low-risk for pregnancy complications to give them a chance to work out any issues.

Telemedicine was pioneered at UAMS starting in 2003 by Curtis Lowery, M.D., chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

“Technology has come so far. We’re fortunate to have Dr. Curtis Lowery working in our department. He’s been an innovator and leader in the telemedicine world,” Manning said.

Manning says there is room for growth with this program, including scheduling routine visits during pregnancy.

By Katrina Dupins | October 23rd, 2017

Juliana Bonilla-Velez, M.D., was awarded the Exemplary Senior Trainee Award, by the Women in Otolaryngology section of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the recent annual conference. The award is recognition of a senior resident physician or fellow in otolaryngology among all training programs in the United States, and is nominated by the program director to the American Academy of Otolaryngology.

Dr. Bonilla, who has stood out for her research work and leadership activities, was recognized on this occasion as an exemplary trainee. Among the factors that were taken into account for her nomination were the outstanding leadership activities that she has carried out during residency, her role as a mentor to medical students, a CV that shows her achievements as a physician, educator and researcher, and a letter of recommendation by professionals who have praised her commitment as a student and professional.

During her residency, she has been involved in different research projects that were presented at national and international meetings. She joined the American Academy of Otolaryngology and participated in the Section for Residents and Fellows, being selected by her peers to multiple roles in the Governing Council and currently serves as Vice-Chair. Because of her exemplary career, she has also been nominated for and currently serves in the Pediatric Otolaryngology Committee of the Academy and the Task Force on Neural Monitoring for Head, Neck, and Thyroid Surgery. Participation in these committees is by nomination only and the candidates are chosen based on their academic acumen and leadership qualities among all otolaryngologists nationally.

Oct. 20, 2017 | Education today is like training career athletes – professionals with the stamina, strength and flexibility to navigate today’s working world.

“The days of having one career where you work 40 years in the same field and then you retire – that is non-existent now,” said Jeffery H. Moran, Ph.D., CEO of PinPoint Testing and assistant professor of toxicology at UAMS. “Today, it’s about learning how to juggle. You have to be fearless. You have to embrace change.”

Moran was one of six speakers at the 17th annual Career Day for Biomedical Sciences, hosted by the UAMS Graduate School and held Oct. 12 in the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute. About 130 people attended the event, which was designed with UAMS students and faculty in mind, as well as undergraduate and graduate students from Arkansas and surrounding states.

“The expectation used to be that the next generation would become clones of you,” said UAMS Graduate School Dean Robert E. McGehee Jr., Ph.D. “All of that has changed. Even back in 2000 when we started Career Day many of us recognized that, especially since a degree in biomedical sciences gives you the tools for a whole host of different things. With Career Day, we hope to give you a variety of examples of people who are successful in their careers, and not necessarily the traditional tracks.”

Moran is a native Arkansan and UAMS alumni. He has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a Ph.D. in toxicology. He has been working at UAMS in various capacities for 23 years, including teaching, managing labs, and conducting and publishing research. He has worked as a toxicological consultant, which is where he learned to take a business-minded approach. And he served as section director and branch chief at the Arkansas Department of Health, which is where he fine-tuned his sense of laboratory management.

Fast-forward to today, and Moran is four years into the venture of starting his own toxicology company. PinPoint Testing LLC offers laboratory services, lab consulting as training for outside laboratories, and a product – a testing kit called ToxBox®. Revenue-wise, they are running a year ahead of their business plan, and Moran was visibly proud when he discussed being able to bring high-paying jobs to Arkansas and recently transferring production of ToxBox® to the state.

Moran said it’s difficult to predict exactly where you might end up or exactly what you might find most interesting. It’s important to go in with an open mind and not base career decisions on what you think will bring in the most money.

“If you enjoy what you do, the money will follow,” Moran said. “No matter how tight the job market, there is always room for good people who are passionate about what they do.”

When it comes to mixing science and business, Moran said not to be afraid to think big. Moran encouraged the audience to think collaboratively, engaging with fellow scientists and professionals from different fields. Above all, he said to develop a thick skin if you want to go into business.

“Be prepared to hear ‘no’ a lot,” Moran said. “But once you get your first investors, have your first successes, it’s amazing how fast those ‘noes’ turn into ‘yeses.’”

Other speakers included:

• Kristen Sterba, Ph.D., associate dean of the UAMS Graduate School – introduction to UAMS Graduate School programming
• Joseph Underwood, J.D., Ph.D., associate director of licensing, Bioventures, UAMS – “Science and the Legal Profession”
• John C. Lipcomb, Ph.D., toxicologist, Cincinnati, Ohio – “Toxicology and Risk Assessment: Who gets to say how much is too much? And … why would they say such a thing?”
• Emily Roberts, Ph.D., owner of Personal Finance for PhDs, Seattle, Washington – “The Solopreneur Ph.D.: Charting My Own Path through Self-Employment”
• Jennifer Konopka-Anstadt, Ph.D., team lead, Vaccine Development Laboratory, Polio and Picornavirus Laboratory Branch, Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia – “Transitioning from Academic Research to Public Health: Working at the CDC”
• Craig Forrest, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UAMS – “The decisions that led me to academic science … and herpes”

The event concluded with a tour of UAMS for undergraduate students and a career development workshop for graduate students and postdoctoral students by Roberts – “The Graduate Student’s Guide to Personal Finance.”

By Amy Widner | October 20th, 2017