Aug. 23, 2017 | C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., has made a distinguished career as an orthopaedic surgeon with the support of a kindly mentor and a dedicated nurse. Now, he’s paying it forward: spreading $75,000 across two scholarships, each honoring their contributions.

Barnes donated $37,500, matched by UAMS for a total of $75,000, towards the Blackwell-Barnes College of Medicine Scholarship and the Marty Bushmiaer Orthopaedic Nursing Scholarship. The former honors his mentor, Banks Blackwell, M.D., and the latter honors Marty Bushmiaer, A.P.R.N., Barnes’ longtime nurse.

The Blackwell-Barnes College of Medicine Scholarship will assist College of Medicine students with a preference for those from southeast Arkansas and an interest in orthopaedics.

“I have a strong affection for southeast Arkansas,” Barnes said. “This is about giving back – both to that region of Arkansas and to orthopaedics.”

Barnes, who has served as chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery since 2014, was invested June 1 in the Carl L. Nelson, M.D., Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery. He is one of Arkansas’ and the region’s foremost joint replacement experts.

Barnes credits his interest in orthopaedics to Blackwell, a fellow Pine Bluff native, who mentored him at Jefferson Regional Medical Center. “Banks was an orthopaedic surgeon, and his support helped me become one,” Barnes said.

Barnes, who graduated with honors from the College of Medicine in 1986 and completed his internship and residency in orthopaedic surgery at UAMS, was one of many students whom Blackwell helped send to medical school.

“Banks did this for me and others from Pine Bluff,” Barnes said. “He asked that we do it for others when we could, and I have enjoyed doing so.”

The Marty Bushmiaer Orthopaedic Nursing Scholarship will support orthopaedic nurses in obtaining an advanced nursing degree from the College of Nursing.

“Marty is a good example for orthopaedic nurses because she is dedicated to patients and quality outcomes,” Barnes said. “We have worked closely together for more than 20 years and hopefully have advanced hip and knee replacement in our state.”

Bushmiaer has worked alongside Barnes since 1994, when she was pursuing an advanced degree at UAMS. They collaborated on project at Arkansas Children’s Hospital while she was in graduate school “and the rest is history,” Bushmiaer said.

The scholarship announcement came as a total surprise. “I was truly overwhelmed by his generous gift,” Bushmiaer said. “It is amazing.”

The path to becoming a nurse was always clear in her mind, Bushmiaer said.

“Since the age of 5, I have wanted to be a nurse,” she said. “I fell in love with orthopaedics on my first job following nursing school. I was inspired by the nurses in the operating room who shared their love and enthusiasm for orthopaedics.”

Bushmiaer looks forward to introducing more nurses to the specialty.

“This scholarship means that a nurse, who may not have been able to, may now pursue an advanced degree in nursing,” Bushmiaer said. “I am proud to know that there will be an opportunity for another nurse to love and enjoy a fulfilling career in orthopaedic nursing.”

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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; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,870 students, 799 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS and 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 Benjamin Waldrum | August 23rd, 2017

July 27, 2017 | Together, the husband-and-wife physician team of Jawahar L. “Jay” Mehta, M.D., Ph.D., and Paulette Mehta, M.D., have done much to drive the mission of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) through cutting-edge research and outstanding patient care.

Now, they’re looking even farther ahead: the Mehtas have given $50,000, matched by UAMS for a total of $100,000, to establish an endowed lectureship to bring in top physicians in internal medicine to share their scientific knowledge with medical students and residents.

Jay Mehta, professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics, holds the Stebbins Chair in Cardiology and is the former director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. Paulette is a professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology. The Mehtas have bridged their respective fields through research on platelets and other blood cells in cardiovascular disease. They’ve developed lasting relationships with their patients, treating them like family. With this new lectureship, the Mehtas plan to invite notable physician educators and scientists to visit UAMS.

“This lectureship will help train and educate the future physicians of Arkansas by providing invaluable interactions with prominent physicians at the top of their fields,” said Jay Mehta. “In this way, we can continue to provide the best possible care to the people of this state.”

“This is our chance to pay back for all that we have been given, and to pass philanthropy on to future generations,” he said.

“Jay and I share the same vision,” said Paulette Mehta. “Our hope is that this contribution will help push the path forward to reduce the burden of those living with blood and heart diseases, and to eradicate these diseases in our lifetimes.”

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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; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,870 students, 799 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS and 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 Benjamin Waldrum | August 15th, 2017

Aug. 9, 2017 | The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) recently was chosen by the Home-Centered Care Institute as one of eight Centers of Excellence for its Home-Based Primary Care program, a first-of-its-kind program designed to make high-quality, home-based primary care a more common practice across the United States.

The institute’s program aims to train and expand the home-based primary care workforce of physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants from the currently estimated 1,000 providers to 5,000 nationwide over the next five years.

The training curriculum to be used at the eight centers focuses on four core components — foundational principles, economics, operations and clinical care. Ann Riggs, M.D., a professor in the UAMS College of Medicine’s Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics, and Jasmine Brathwaite, M.D., an assistant professor in the same department, will teach the curriculum at UAMS along with two advanced practice registered nurses. In September, all four will travel to Chicago for a “training the trainers” course and plan to start teaching classes in home-based primary care by early November.

“This is a new educational component that we can use to help train future house-call physicians how to build medical teams going to the homes,” Riggs said. “We are very excited and proud to be asked to participate in it. We’re grateful that Dr. Brathwaite is leading up the House Call Program through the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and also helping us step up to be one of the Centers of Excellence.”

In 1999, Debra Caradine, M.D., established the House Call clinical program in the Department of Geriatrics. Brathwaite now leads the program and along with two advanced practice registered nurses sees about 250 patients.

Home-based primary care makes possible timely and appropriate care, improves medical outcomes and patient and family experience, and reduces health care costs for older Americans with multiple chronic conditions and other medically complex patients, Brathwaite said.

“In the past, it’s been difficult to make house call programs financially feasible, but with the new changes in payment structure, we will be able to make the financial piece work,” Brathwaite said. “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services did research over four years looking at four or five different house-calls program. They showed a tremendous savings in overall cost of care, mainly because we’re showing better health outcomes, reducing emergency medical visits and decreasing hospitalizations.”

The other Centers of Excellence in the program are Cleveland Clinic, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, MedStar Health-Medical House Call Program in Washington D.C., Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, University of Arizona Center on Aging in Tucson, Arizona and University of California, San Francisco.

Founded in 2012 by Thomas Cornwell, M.D., the Home-Centered Care Institute is a collaborative nonprofit organization that is advancing home-based primary care nationwide to ensure that medically complex and homebound patients have access to high-quality primary care in their home.

By Ben Boulden | August 9th, 2017 |

Aug. 8, 2017 | Charlotte Hobbs, M.D., Ph.D., has been named executive associate dean for clinical and translational research and Richard P. Morrison, Ph.D., has been named executive associate dean for research in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

Hobbs, previously executive associate dean for research, is a professor of pediatrics, pediatric hospitalist, epidemiologist and national leader in birth defects research. Her new position was established Aug. 1.

Morrison, professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Medicine, is a leading expert in the immunology of chlamydia infection. He will step down as chair at the end of August to focus on his new position.

Expansion of the college’s senior research team comes on the heels of a highly successful year for federal research grant funding awarded to UAMS. The College of Medicine rose from 84^th to 53^rd last year in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research’s ranking of U.S. medical schools that receive research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A key factor in the college’s grant funding increase was a $41.8 million NIH grant that Hobbs and Jeannette Lee, Ph.D., a professor of biostatistics, received in 2016 to oversee a 17-site Pediatric Clinical Trials Network.

Under Morrison’s leadership, the Department of Microbiology and Immunology also has improved significantly in the Blue Ridge Rankings, moving from 71^st among 99 comparable departments receiving NIH funding in 2008 to 48^th among 98 departments in the most recent ranking.

Morrison and Hobbs will work collaboratively to advance the college’s research mission. Morrison will focus on goal setting and monitoring of the college’s progress in research and external grant funding. He will work closely with UAMS’ research core facilities and research support offices, along with department chairs and faculty scientists throughout the college.

“Dr. Morrison brings exceptional, proven leadership and administrative skills to his new post,” said Pope L. Moseley, M.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine. “Dr. Morrison and his colleagues in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology have been highly successful in obtaining grants, conducting world-class research and publishing scholarly work since he joined us as chair in 2007.”

Hobbs will focus on the college’s clinical and translational research efforts. She will also continue to direct the college’s Clinician-Scientist Development Program, which is designed to increase the ranks of specially trained physician-scientists who can bridge the basic and clinical sciences in the effort to translate research findings into better medical care.

“The Clinician-Scientist Development Program has benefited significantly from Dr. Hobbs’ founding vision and mentoring skills,” Moseley said. “Her remarkable ability to convene researchers from different disciplines around innovative and complex projects will be an asset to her work in this new leadership post.”

Hobbs directed the Birth Defects Research Section in the College of Medicine from 2001 to 2015. She previously served as principal investigator of the Arkansas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention – a leading U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-supported birth defects research site – from 1997 to February 2017. She was scientific director of the Arkansas Reproductive Health Monitoring System from 1996 to 2015 and served as medical director until February 2017.

Hobbs received her Ph.D. in epidemiology and biostatistics at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, in 1991 and her medical degree at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1992. She completed her residency in pediatrics at UAMS.

Morrison served as a co-principal investigator and director of the Research Core and associate director of the Administrative Core for UAMS’ Center of Microbial Pathogenesis and Host Inflammatory Responses before assuming his current post. He was the inaugural recipient of the rotating Endowed Chair in Sciences Basic to Medicine at UAMS from 2007 to 2012.

Morrison worked previously at the University of Alabama Birmingham, where he was a professor in the Department of Medicine from 2004 to 2007. He also served on the faculty at UAB earlier in his career, from 1994 to 1997. From 1997 to 2004 he was a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology at Montana State University in Bozeman, where he was promoted to professor in 2002.

Morrison received his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma in Norman in 1982. He served in postdoctoral and staff positions at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, from 1982 to 1994.

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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; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,870 students, 799 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS and 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 Amy Widner | August 8th, 2017

A team of University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) research scientists recently received a $422,610 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the mechanisms of control of emotional responses of men and women using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Keith Bush, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, is the principal investigator of the study funded by the National Science Foundation, a federal agency that funds nearly a quarter of all basic research conducted by U.S. colleges and universities. He and co-investigator Andrew James, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, are with the Brain Imaging Research Center, part of UAMS’ Psychiatric Research Institute.

Bush, whose background is in computer science, plans to use the Brain Imaging Research Center’s MRI scanner to analyze the brain responses of 81 healthy people between ages 18 and 65. He will be studying multiple dimensions of human emotional expression — such as positive versus negative or levels of arousal — in an effort to understand the emotional responses of humans and how they control them.

“We’re going to be showing them emotionally rich images while they are in the scanner,” said Bush. “Using fMRI, we’ll be able to see their brain reactions in real time and learn more about how we as humans decode the complex social messages within emotions and how we regulate our responses. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that if we gain an understanding of how the healthy brain reacts, then we will gain valuable insight into the mechanisms of prevalent mood and anxiety disorders.”

“We know relatively little as to how specifically we deploy control systems to regulate our emotional brain,” according to Clint Kilts, Ph.D., director of the Brain Imaging Research Center. “This makes this project vital in recognizing and correcting control issues for patients with problems like depression and bipolar disorder. This study intersects the fields of affective and computational neuroscience, machine learning, engineering control systems and the technical advances of real-time functional brain imaging.

“If you’re going to understand the mechanisms of the brain, you’re going to have to first understand them in the healthy population,” said Kilts. “This project will go a long way towards helping people understand, in a healthy sense, ‘how am I doing in my own world.’ It’s going to generate new knowledge on a problem that we’ve been studying for centuries.”

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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; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,870 students, 799 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS and 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 Tim Taylor | August 3rd, 2017

Aug. 1, 2017 | Undergraduate scientists from across Arkansas wore buttons provided by the UAMS Graduate School that said “Ask Me about My Research” July 26 at the Central Arkansas Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium.

“Talking about science should be like talking about the weather. It should come that naturally,” said Grover P. Miller, Ph.D., professor in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department in the UAMS College of Medicine. Miller co-directs the symposium with his department chair, Kevin D. Raney, Ph.D.

Through poster talks, oral presentations and networking with faculty and fellow students, undergraduates studying biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and computational sciences had plenty of opportunities to practice communicating about their scientific interests – or what Miller calls practicing the “dialogue of science.”

“The symposium is set up to be very practical and very realistic,” Miller said. “If these students choose to continue careers in science, this venue is very similar to the types of symposiums they will participate in to share their research. And beyond that, science communication is very important. The ability to speak about your research – not just with each other, but with the wider world – is a critical skill.”

About 250 participants filled both floors of the I. Dodd Wilson Education Building at UAMS, including 120 undergrads, 60 undergraduate faculty and research mentors from 14 colleges and universities across the state as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration National Center for Toxicological Research at Jefferson.

Students from Arkansas and from outside the state participated and gained firsthand experience on what research is possible in Arkansas. Student projects were the product of formal undergraduate summer research programs, including four on the UAMS campus and programs at other institutions as well as those by independently supported faculty mentors.

Daniel Blankson, a rising senior at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, described himself as “a little shy.” Nevertheless, he said he gave a poster talk at the symposium to build his confidence in speaking about his work. A math and computer science double major, he participated in the IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) summer research program at UAMS. He worked on a web tool that allows people to quickly and intuitively look up drug interactions between prescription drugs and natural remedies like vitamins, herbs and supplements.

He was excited by the opportunity to work on a project with such a direct and immediate impact on the public and said the experience will likely help him settle his career plans.

“This gave me an idea of what it feels like to be a Ph.D. student, what your daily activities look like, and it set up some building blocks for the future for me,” Blankson said.

Sarah Glass, a rising junior in biochemistry and molecular biology at Hendrix College in Conway, presented a poster on her summer research project exploring screening methods for ovarian cancer. She carried out this research through the Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program supported by the UAMS Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Although Glass was pretty sure she wanted to do scientific research as a career before she participated in the summer program, she said you don’t really know until you try.

“I wanted to get experience doing research,” Glass said. “I wanted to get in there, get my hands dirty, try it out and see if it really is the career for me.”

Glass said she especially appreciated that her mentor, Karen Abbott, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, took the time to talk to her not only about science, but about life as well.

“She sat us all down and said, ‘this is what I think are your strengths, these are your weaknesses, and this or that might be the right career for you,’ which I found particularly helpful as I’m trying to make those types of decisions,” Glass said. “And with the science, I learned that a lot of the process is trying something out, seeing what works, and if it doesn’t work, problem-solving so that you can move on. You don’t let yourself get stuck when something doesn’t do what you think it will.”

Miller said experiences like Glass’ are exactly what is so great about summer research projects for undergrads. Those students usually only have course lab experience briefly over a week during a semester, where they carry out canned experiments that always work. By contrast, the summer provides an eight- to 10-week stretch of intense research experiences, including the realistic ups and downs.

“There are exciting moments, there is failure, and there is growth,” Miller said. “You grow both as a person and a scientist, and, hopefully, you grow the overall body of knowledge. Summer research and the longer block of time involved creates the space for those experiences.”

The symposium concluded with a talk by Craig Forrest, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, who spoke about the twists and turns in his research and his career. For him, the ultimate message was that an interest in science was the spark that continued to drive him forward and could for the students as well.

Both in the lab and on their career path, Miller said, he hopes the summer research programs and the symposium gave students the tools to “blaze their own trails.”

The event is hosted by the Graduate School and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UAMS as well as the National Institutes of Health-supported INBRE program and the UAMS Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) to Increase Diversity in Research.

In its sixth year, the program continues to grow as word spreads and more of the undergraduate student research community participates.

“Each year we get a little bit bigger,” Miller said. “We’re almost at capacity now, which may present challenges with space next year – but it’s a good problem to have.”

By Amy Widner | August 1st, 2017

July 27, 2017 | Robert L. “Lee” Archer, M.D., has been named chair of the Department of Neurology in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), effective Aug. 1.

Archer, who has lead the department on an interim basis since July 2016, has served on the UAMS faculty for more than 30 years, providing world-class care for Arkansans with multiple sclerosis (MS), while teaching and mentoring many future neurologists. He has earned the admiration of his patients, students, residents and colleagues.

“Dr. Archer emerged as the clear choice in our nationwide search for a leader who can take the department’s education, research and clinical programs to the next level,” said Pope L. Moseley, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine and executive vice chancellor at UAMS. “As interim chair, he embraced the significant challenges of leading a department in transition. The department has expanded substantially under his leadership, with his recruitment of nine outstanding physicians and scientists – half of the department’s current faculty.”

Two of those new faculty members were recruited to improve stroke and critical care services, one of Archer’s key areas of focus. Other goals include facilitating the efforts of the Movement Disorders Clinic, including collaborative work with the College of Medicine’s Department of Geriatrics and the UAMS Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging specifically in Alzheimer’s disease, and building on the already strong Multiple Sclerosis Clinic by supporting faculty research.

Archer also will focus on strengthening ties with the basic science faculty at UAMS, particularly in bioinformatics, to fully take advantage of research, education and collaboration opportunities. He will advance the department’s research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by filling two endowed chair positions in association with the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. He will continue to work closely with the UAMS Department of Neurosurgery to ensure patients receive seamless care from diagnosis to surgery to follow-up care.

“I think any leader wants to bring out the strengths in the group, so I want to facilitate the careers of the talented people we have here and bring in more talented people to expand on our strengths,” Archer said.

Archer, who is highly regarded in the MS patient community, will continue to spend about half of his time on patient care. He has trained and hired a second physician, Carolyn Mehaffey, M.D., to continue to serve MS patients in Arkansas and allow the UAMS MS clinic to accept new patients.

Archer received his medical degree from the College of Medicine in 1982. He completed his residency at UAMS, joined the faculty in 1986 and has held the rank of professor since 2008. He founded UAMS’ Multiple Sclerosis Service in 1987 and co-directed the Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic at UAMS from 1989 to 2003.

This month Archer will conclude 13 years of service as chair of the University Hospital Medical Ethics Advisory Committee. He has served on many other institutional panels, including the College of Medicine Promotion and Tenure Committee, which he chaired in 2016-2017.

Archer is president-elect of the Arkansas Medical Society. He is also active in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and several civic organizations. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Association (ARORA) since 2005 and chaired the organization in 2014-2016.

Among many honors, Archer was invested in 2007 as the inaugural holder of the Major and Ruth Nodini Chair in Neurology, which was established with $1 million in donations to support his clinical care, research into MS and educational programs. One initiative partially funded by the endowment is the MS Fellowship developed and led by Archer, which graduated its first fellow — new faculty member Mehaffey — this past June.

Graduating College of Medicine seniors have awarded Archer three Gold Sash and numerous Red Sash awards for his teaching. He received the Distinguished Faculty Award from the College of Medicine Alumni Association in 2007. In 1999 he received the inaugural Humanism in Medicine Award for faculty in the college. He received the UAMS Helen May Compassionate Care Award in 2015 and was honored later that year as the Physician of the Year in the Arkansas Business Health Care Heroes ceremony. Among many “Best Doctors” recognitions he was voted in 2010 as the Best Neurologist in Arkansas and featured on the cover of the Arkansas Times.

Archer has been married to his wife, Nancy, for 40 years.

“Like anyone who is successful in life and in their career, I have a spouse to thank,” Archer said. “She has been the person to encourage me and keep me inspired to keep learning and growing throughout my career.”

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UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,021 students, 789 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

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By Amy Widner | July 27th, 2017

July 25, 2017 | Frederick “Rick” E. Barr, M.D., will join the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as chair of the Department of Pediatrics and associate dean for child health in the UAMS College of Medicine, as well as pediatrician-in-chief for Arkansas Children’s, effective Oct. 1.

“Dr. Barr epitomizes the leader we have been seeking to take our already strong Department of Pediatrics to the next level as we continue to work with our partners at Arkansas Children’s in pursuit of better health for the children of Arkansas,” said Pope L. Moseley, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine and executive vice chancellor at UAMS.

“It’s a pleasure for us to welcome Dr. Barr to such an important role in championing children,” said Arkansas Children’s President & CEO Marcy Doderer. “We look forward to collaborating to change the story for Arkansas, making it the safest and healthiest state to be a child. Our physician partners will have a fine leader and families will find a true advocate in Dr. Barr.”

Barr succeeds Richard F. Jacobs, M.D., who retired June 30 after 35 years of service on the faculty at UAMS and Arkansas Children’s, including 11 years as chair of the Department of Pediatrics. Steve Schexnayder, M.D., professor and chief of the Critical Care Medicine Section, will continue serving as interim chair until Barr’s arrival.

Barr called Jacobs a leader in the field and said he considers Jacobs a mentor.

“I’m very excited to be joining the team,” Barr said. “I have a lot of respect for the faculty there and the team Dr. Jacobs has built – it’s a fabulous opportunity to serve the Department of Pediatrics, UAMS, and Arkansas Children’s – the whole organization. I see myself as stepping into this role as part of a highly functioning team, and I hope to contribute to that team while also being part of something bigger than UAMS and Arkansas Children’s — improving the health of children in Arkansas.”

Barr, a pediatric critical care specialist, is currently the Suzan B. Thames endowed professor, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and senior associate dean for Graduate Medical Education at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. He is also physician-in-chief at Children’s of Mississippi/Batson Children’s Hospital, where he has served since 2011.

Moseley said Barr is an accomplished physician-scientist with extensive clinical leadership experience and an exceptionally strong background in research.

“He understands how crucial research is to improving the health and health care of Arkansas’ children,” Moseley said. “A key area of research expansion for us and our faculty colleagues in the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute will be in data-driven population health research. Additionally, Dr. Barr has shown proven results at improving access to high-quality pediatric care. Under his leadership, Children’s of Mississippi greatly expanded its reach throughout the state, and he nearly doubled the number of Department of Pediatrics faculty.”

Barr is also principal investigator for the Mississippi Pediatric Clinical Trials Center, one of 17 sites in the IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network, the National Institutes of Health initiative being overseen by the Data Coordinating and Operations Center established through a $41.8 million grant to UAMS in September.

“My background is in clinical and translational research, but I have more recently focused on indicators of population health, which includes social determinants of health and many of these are not necessarily medical,” Barr said. “To address the whole picture of health, it requires building statewide collaborations with other physicians. UAMS and Arkansas Children’s have made significant advancements in this area, and I am ready to pursue the next steps. We will need to expand partnerships with people outside the medical profession, including those in education, social services, government, and other fields to have a positive impact on child health. I’ve built those kind of connections in Mississippi and I think they’ll be even better in Arkansas.”

Barr previously served on the faculty at Vanderbilt University from 1995 to 2010. He was chief of the Division of Pediatric Critical Care from 2007 to 2010. He also served as co-director of Vanderbilt University Master’s in Clinical Investigation Program, a component of Vanderbilt’s National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA). In 2010-2011 he was an endowed professor of Pediatric Critical Care and director of the Clinical and Translational Research Center, a CTSA-funded program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the University of Cincinnati.

Barr received his undergraduate degree in animal and veterinary science at West Virginia University in 1984 and his medical degree from the University of Virginia in 1988. He completed his residency in pediatrics at Vanderbilt. Barr continued his training with a clinical fellowship in pediatric critical care at the University of California San Francisco, where he was also a research fellow in the Cardiovascular Research Institute. While on the faculty at Vanderbilt in 2002 he obtained a Master’s of Science in clinical investigation.

ABOUT UAMS

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,870 students, 799 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS and 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.

ABOUT ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S

Arkansas Children’s, Inc. is the only health system in the state solely dedicated to caring for children, which allows the organization to uniquely shape the landscape of pediatric care in Arkansas. The system includes a 359-bed hospital in Little Rock with the state’s only pediatric Level 1 trauma center, burn center, Level 4 neonatal intensive care and pediatric intensive care, and research institute as well as a nationally recognized transport service. It is one of the 25 largest children’s hospitals in the United States and is nationally ranked by U.S. News World & Report in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery, neonatology, pulmonology and urology. A sister campus is under development in Northwest Arkansas and will bring 233,613 square feet of inpatient beds, emergency care, clinic rooms and diagnostic services to children in that corner of the state. Arkansas Children’s also blankets the state with outreach programs that include telemedicine, mobile health, and school-based health solutions. A private not-for-profit, Arkansas Children’s boasts an internationally renowned reputation for medical breakthroughs and intensive treatments, unique surgical procedures and forward-thinking research and is committed to providing every child with access to the best care available, regardless of location or resources. Founded as an orphanage, Arkansas Children’s has championed children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow for more than 100 years. For more info, visit archildrens.org.

By Amy Widner | July 25th, 2017

July 24, 2017 | There’s a new Champion for Children in Arkansas. Nationally renowned pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Brian Reemtsen, M.D., of Mattel Children’s Hospital and the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, has been named director of the Heart Institute at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. He will also serve as professor of surgery in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) College of Medicine’s Department of Surgery.

The announcement is the culmination of an extensive national search.

“We searched for an exceptional leader to join us as we champion children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow,” said Marcy Doderer, FACHE, president and CEO of Arkansas Children’s. “Dr. Reemtsen is a patient-focused, data-driven heart surgeon and researcher. As the leader of the Heart Institute, he will ensure world-class care for all of the cardiovascular patients at Arkansas Children’s, from those with the tiniest hearts to our adult congenital heart disease patients.”

“Dr. Reemtsen is an outstanding pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon who we are thrilled to have join our Department of Surgery at UAMS,” said UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D. “Providing the best and most compassionate care for children with heart problems has been a long-standing priority for UAMS.”

In his newly created leadership position, Reemtsen says the Heart Institute will focus on three goals for pediatric heart care at Arkansas Children’s and UAMS:

• Improving outcomes among the smallest, most high-risk children
• Focusing on the fastest-growing patient population of adult congenital heart disease; and
• Strengthening the world-class transplant program at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

“I feel very honored and overwhelmingly excited about the opportunity to not only lead this great institution, but to have a significant impact on its growth and national presence,” Reemtsen said. “My top priorities are the patients and their families and collaborating with their referring physicians.”

Most recently, Reemtsen served as associate professor of surgery and pediatrics and chief of congenital heart surgery and pediatric heart transplant for Mattel Children’s Hospital and David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center. While there, he gained national attention for performing a heart transplant for the youngest recipient at UCLA in 25 years: a 3-week-old who received a new heart the size of a strawberry.

Reemtsen earned his medical degree from New York Medical College. He completed his internship and residency at the UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, and also served as chief resident at UCLA. He trained as a fellow in cardiac surgery at the University of Washington. He completed a 12-month Fellow Congenital Heart Surgery Program in 2004 at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, England. Reemtsen is board certified by the American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and Congenital Heart Subspecialty. He is a member of the American Medical Association, Western Thoracic Surgical Association, Longmire Surgical Society (president), and is a candidate member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Under Reemtsen’s guidance the Heart Institute at Arkansas Children’s will become the focal point of the hospital’s David M. Clark Heart Center. To be designated as an institute, a pediatric cardiovascular program must integrate innovative research, like discoveries in clinical trials through Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, as well as robust philanthropic support from the community. Reemtsen will also hold the Log-a-Load for Kids of Arkansas Endowed Chair for Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at Arkansas Children’s, a position that has been key in attracting excellent talent to care for Arkansas kids with the most complex hearts.

Arkansas Children’s David M. Clark Heart Center is the leading provider of comprehensive cardiovascular care for infants, children, adolescents and young adults in Arkansas. Last year children and young adults with heart disease made more than 8,000 visits to its clinics and outpatient services.

U.S. News and World Report’s 2017-18 Best Children’s Hospitals ranked Arkansas Children’s 37^th for its Pediatric Cardiology and Heart Surgery, and rated its heart transplant, congenital heart and adult congenital heart programs among the program’s excellent ratings.

The David M. Clark Heart Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital is a full-service pediatric heart institute, which offers:

• Comprehensive pediatric and congenital heart surgery;
• Dedicated cardiac anesthesia service;
• A Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit with stepdown, caring for all medical needs, including pre-op and post-op care of heart patients.
• A heart transplantation program, which has performed more than 340 of these life-saving surgeries.
• Two state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization laboratories and an electrophysiology lab.

• Ventricular assist technology and mobile ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation), a form of heart-lung bypass used in critical cases;
• Diagnosis and treatment of patients with connective tissue diseases;
• A Fetal Heart Center to provide the full spectrum of care for babies suspected of having and diagnosed with heart defects – from development of a birth plan with the family to transitional care during the infant’s first year of life; and
• Adult congenital heart disease care.

ABOUT ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S

Arkansas Children’s, Inc. is the only health system in the state solely dedicated to caring for children, which allows the organization to uniquely shape the landscape of pediatric care in Arkansas. The system includes a 359-bed hospital in Little Rock with the state’s only pediatric Level 1 trauma center, burn center, Level 4 neonatal intensive care and pediatric intensive care, and research institute as well as a nationally recognized transport service. It is one of the 25 largest children’s hospitals in the United States and is nationally ranked by U.S. News World & Report in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery, neonatology, pulmonology and urology. A sister campus is under development in Northwest Arkansas and will bring 233,613 square feet of inpatient beds, emergency care, clinic rooms and diagnostic services to children in that corner of the state. Arkansas Children’s also blankets the state with outreach programs that include telemedicine, mobile health, and school-based health solutions. A private not-for-profit, Arkansas Children’s boasts an internationally renowned reputation for medical breakthroughs and intensive treatments, unique surgical procedures and forward-thinking research and is committed to providing every child with access to the best care available, regardless of location or resources. Founded as an orphanage, Arkansas Children’s has championed children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow for more than 100 years. For more info, visit archildrens.org.

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UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,021 students, 789 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

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By Amy Widner | July 24th, 2017