By Susan Van Dusen

A team led by UAMS cancer researcher Valentina Todorova, Ph.D., has demonstrated the potential to prevent chemotherapy-induced heart damage without reducing the treatment’s effectiveness.

The study titled “Dantrolene Attenuates Cardiotoxicity of Doxorubicin Without Reducing its Antitumor Efficacy in a Breast Cancer Model” was published in the February 2020 issue of the scientific journal Translational Oncology.

Todorova’s team combined the muscle relaxant dantrolene with the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin to determine if it could help prevent heart damage — also called cardiotoxicity — without reducing the drug’s cancer-fighting ability.

“Cancer treatment can cause many side effects, including heart damage. In some patients, the damage appears during or soon after treatment. In others, it occurs many years later. We are looking at new ways to prevent this damage from occurring, specifically in breast cancer patients,” said Todorova, assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine.

Doxorubicin is commonly used alone or in combination with other drugs to treat many types of cancer, including breast cancer, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, bladder cancer, stomach cancer and several others.

However, due to its well-documented and unpredictable side effects, doxorubicin’s usage can be limited.

“Heart damage caused by doxorubicin begins with the first round of chemotherapy and increases in severity based on the dosage the patient receives. Typically the damage starts as cardiomyopathy, which makes it harder for the heart to pump blood. This can then lead to congestive heart failure,” Todorova said.

Her research showed, for the first time, that dantrolene, when given in addition to doxorubicin, has the potential to prevent heart damage, without decreasing doxorubicin’s cancer-fighting ability.

Dantrolene is a muscle relaxant used to treat stiffness and spasms related to conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis.

“No one has previously studied this combination of drugs in cancer. Our preliminary study lays the foundation for further research, both by our team and others,” Todorova said.

Next steps for Todorova include examining the most effective dosage of dantrolene, how it is best delivered, and its effect on a tumor’s response or resistance to treatment.

This research was funded in part by the Arkansas Breast Cancer Research Project (ABCRP). Established in 1997 by the Arkansas General Assembly, the ABCRP funds research efforts into the cause, cure, treatment, early detection and prevention of breast cancer.

Additional UAMS authors on the paper are Eric R. Siegel, M.S., Department of Biostatistics; Yihong Kaufmann, Ph.D., Department of Surgery; Asangi Kumarapeli, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Pathology; Jeanne Y. Wei, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Geriatrics; Issam Makhoul, M.D., Department of Internal Medicine; and V. Suzanne Klimberg, M.D., Ph.D., and Aaron Owen, both formerly of UAMS.

By Spencer Watson

More than 120 students from Little Rock and the surrounding area got a late Christmas present from volunteers at UAMS on Martin Luther King Jr. Day: the gift of clearer vision.

The Third Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Pediatric Vision Outreach event was organized by nonprofit Rural Ophthalmology Optometry Treatment & Screening (ROOTS) and Shepherd’s Hope Neighborhood Health Clinic and hosted by UAMS.

The event sought to provide a comprehensive vision exam and free pair of eye glasses for students who had failed their annual vision screening at school.

“Two out of three students who fail their vision screening don’t get follow up,” said Katie Brown, O.D., an optometrist at the UAMS Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute and assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology in the UAMS College of Medicine. “We think they struggle in school because of that. So we were trying to remedy that problem, at least here in Little Rock, by providing free eye exams on MLK Day.”

For three years now, Brown and UAMS medical and public health student John Musser, who founded ROOTS, have worked to organize the pediatric outreach event. This year it involved volunteer eye doctors and technicians from Jones Eye performing exams and nearly 60 UAMS students from across all five colleges and the graduate school helping to organize appointments and doing activities to keep the young patients entertained.

“We are working hard to ensure that every child in our state who fails their school vision screening has an opportunity to receive eye care,” said Musser, who was inspired to help by international mission work in Costa Rica, Mexico, Rwanda and Uganda before medical school. “Each experience showed me how to work in teams for the greater good.”

The event itself is very much a team effort, involving coordination with the state Department of Education to reach school nurses throughout Little Rock. While last year’s event was a walk-in clinic, and walk-ins were welcomed again this year, the department worked beforehand with nurses to contact students they knew had failed their screenings and then to schedule appointments for them. That effort helped doubled the number of children who received exams this year compared to last year.

“The appointment outreach team helped us recruit those kids who really needed us without violating educational or patient privacy laws, and we really can’t thank them enough,” said Musser. “That included Dr. Sheketa McKisick, Marthelle Hadley, Sherry Scott, Carmen Hernandez, Jana Hunter, Kaye Rainey, Yerize Isturiz and Angelia Johnson.”

Scheduling appointments also helped in organizing volunteers.

“We knew what time patients were coming in and could plan our volunteers accordingly,” said Brown. “Also, for the patients and their parents, they knew they were going to be seen, that someone would be here when they arrived and that they wouldn’t have to wait several hours.”

Another partner in the event was the Essilor Foundation, a national nonprofit that provided the frames and glasses at no charge to ROOTS. After their exam, students got to pick out frames from a selection offered by Essilor. Brown will order them all together and expects them to arrive within a couple weeks.

“Once the frames come in, I’ll create shipping packages for every school that had a child here,” said Musser. “I set up a QR code that parents can scan. It links to a spreadsheet that will document when the glasses were ordered, when we received them, when we shipped them out and includes tracking numbers for all the schools so parents can track their child’s glasses.”

UAMS’s Sue Griffin, Ph.D., vice chair of Basic Research in the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics, donated sponsorship for shipping charges in addition to being a volunteer on the day of the event.

Amber Booth-McCoy, who directs the Junior STEM Academy summer outreach program, worked with Musser to create a STEM-based, multi-station learning activity for the day’s patients, engaging them and challenging them to be visionaries, as King was.

“We are providing free glasses and comprehensive eye exams, but we need to encourage these children to establish a vision for their life and for their community. They are the visionaries,” said Musser. “I believe it is critical to inspire others and especially the next generation.”

Brown and Musser said they were grateful to all who pitched in, not only on the day of the event, but those who helped make it possible, too.

“We had really tremendous support from everybody, including our leadership,” said Brown, who noted that among the 10 volunteer doctors from UAMS were Christopher T. Westfall, executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine, and Sami Uwaydat, M.D., then-interim chair of the Department of Ophthalmology.

“Our administrative people were awesome, too, making sure the heat was still on, parking was open, the doors were unlocked, getting helium for balloons, pizza to feed volunteers, tables to work on and so on. We just had great support.

“Seeing over a hundred kids in one day is a lot on any day, and we were doing it on a holiday when everything was shut down,” said Brown. “So it was an all-in effort. It was a big event.”

Yet, with the growth of the vision outreach event from 12 to more than 120 patients in three years, Musser noted the acute need for more services. His goal with ROOTS is to create a mobile vision clinic that will work with an established network of 350 volunteer optometrists to provide comprehensive vision exams for students who fail their school screenings at school-based health clinics across the entire state. He’s working to submit a grant application for that.

“If we can get a mobile vision clinic going, we can strategically reach out and make sure that no child falls through the cracks,” he said. “I don’t think now is the time to be thinking about limits. It’s time to think about how to reach the kids.”

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A Note of Gratitude from the College of Medicine Dean

The third annual Martin Luther King Jr. event at UAMS was a wonderful success. This interprofessional effort, organized by student John Musser and Dr. Katie Brown, was the result of a lot of hard work and collaboration from many volunteers who devoted their time on the Martin Luther King holiday. I know I speak for all of us at UAMS in expressing our gratitude for everyone who made this possible.

We appreciate the ophthalmic technicians who worked tirelessly to help these special patients: Marlie Kling, Lizzy Porchay, Rebecca Christian. We are proud that you are on our team at the JEI.

I also want to thank the doctors and nurses who volunteered their time: Katie Brown, O.D., Megan Shirey, O.D., Romona Davis, M.D., Paula Grigorian, M.D., Sami Uwaydat, M.D., Joe Chacko, M.D., Mary Price, O.D., Eugenia White, M.D., Scott Lowery, M.D., Beatrice Reed, O.D., Nicole Garth, APRN and Amy Ford, RN.

We greatly appreciate the many student volunteers from across campus:
College of Health Professions: Rebekah Ward, Jamiri Brown
College of Health Professions OMT students: Laura Ortega, Shawanda McCoy, Katherine Wehmann, Alexis Allen, Ashley Williams
College of Nursing: Marley Brown, Dana McIntosh, Corinne Schaus, Rachel Pascoe, Vivian White, Andrea Worden
College of Public Health: Terrika Edwards
College of Pharmacy: Caleigh Currington, Marissa Watson
College of Medicine: John Musser, Alexandra Diaz-Cruz, Kiley Schlortt, John Dehnel, Matthew Tran, Kylie Cleavenger, Taylor Winn, Nicole Mercier, Tony Chacko, Vanessa Bastidas, Anapaula Rojas, Manasa Veluvolu, Peyton Rather, Victor Ventrano, Sydney Rogers, Alex Green, Quentin Parker, John Coleman, Chelsea Smith, Patricia Ramos, Ryan Oliver, Alex Kilgore, Dmitry Nedosekin, David Baker, Thomas Banh, Michael Mare, Preslie White Hammonds, Zain Chauhan, Christine Hsu, Matthew Baltz, Sydney Roper, Dakory Lee, Greg Corwin
Graduate School: Kathryn Woods

I also want to share my appreciation for our external partners: Conner Haile, School-Side Victors of Children’s Health (Dr. Sheketa McKisick, Jana Hunter, Kaye Rainey, Yerize Isturiz and Angelia Johnson); Community Partners (Marthelle Hadley – Stephens Elementary, Sherry Scott – Watson Elementary, Carmen Hernandez – Chicot Elementary, Lenna Hopkins – Episcopal Collegiate, Diane Musser, Sandee Pinkstaff, Melanie Tenorio, Meggan Musser, Judy Cooper, Juan Davey, Taylor Washington and Tyler Ratliff.

I would like to extend a very special thanks to John Musser and Dr. Brown for leading the event; Shelli Madison and MarliGrace Madison for their administrative support; Ron Hughes Construction in Russellville for donating pizza for our volunteers and patients; Essilor Foundation for donating the glasses the children received; Dr. Kathryn Neill, Associate Provost, Interprofessional Education; Wendy McCloud, Interprofessional Education Manager; Nakia Dedner, Assistant Director of Campus Life; Amber Booth, Junior STEM Academy Director; Dr. Brian Gittens, Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and Dr. Sue Griffin, who not only volunteered her time, but also donated shipping vouchers for the glasses.

Again, thank you to all of our volunteers for your tremendous effort in providing a much-needed service to our community.  Your generosity and collaboration is truly inspiring and the perfect way to honor and celebrate the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., FACS
Executive Vice Chancellor, UAMS
Dean, College of Medicine
Arkansas Medical Society Distinguished Dean’s Chair

Beatrice Boateng, Ph.D., a leader in program evaluation and faculty assessment and development at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has been named assistant dean for faculty assessment and evaluation in the UAMS College of Medicine.

“Dr. Boateng brings incredible expertise to her new role,” said Erick Messias, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., associate dean for faculty affairs in the college. “Our faculty and departments will benefit substantially from her experience as a leader in evaluation and assessment in the Department of Pediatrics and the UAMS Translational Research Institute.”

Boateng, an associate professor of pediatrics, has been approved for promotion to full professor on July 1 by the college leadership. She served as director of the Office of Education and director of faculty development in the Department of Pediatrics from January 2011 to October 2019. Among many accomplishments, Boateng developed and implemented an online faculty evaluation system for the department, the college’s largest with over 200 full-time faculty members. She is a three-time winner of the department’s Educator of the Year award.

Boateng will continue to serve as director of evaluation in the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI), a post she has held since 2014. Supported by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, TRI uses multiple approaches to accelerate research that improves health and health care. As the evaluation director, Boateng uses qualitative and quantitative methods to assess program processes and provide feedback to TRI leadership.

In her new role as an assistant dean, Boateng’s initial focus will be to implement an online database and evaluation system for approximately 1,500 faculty members throughout the college, Messias said.

“The system, which will be fully implemented by fall 2020, will allow for better tracking and a far more streamlined process,” he said. “We hope faculty members and leaders will be able to spend more time having developmental conversations rather than having to deal with paperwork.” Messias also noted that the initiative will result in a substantial, environmentally-friendly reduction in paper usage.

Boateng received her master’s degree in international affairs and a doctorate in instructional technology from Ohio University. She joined UAMS in 2007 as an assistant professor in the UAMS Office of Educational Development. She moved to the Department of Pediatrics in 2009 and was promoted to associate professor in 2013.

Boateng has received a number of campus honors in addition to departmental awards, including the UAMS Educational Technology Excellence Award in 2013 and the UAMS Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award in 2017. She is active in national professional groups including the Association of Clinical and Translational Science Special Interest Group for CTSA Evaluators, and the American Evaluation Association Translational Research Evaluation Topical Interest Group Program Committee.

Daniel E. Voth, Ph.D., has been appointed chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

“Dr. Voth has done an excellent job serving as interim chair since the retirement of former chair Kevin Young, Ph.D., last July and will bring his strong leadership skills, scientific expertise, collegiality and institutional dedication to his post as chair,” UAMS Executive Vice Chancellor and College of Medicine Dean Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., said in an announcement to faculty members.

Voth was recruited to UAMS in 2009 and has made numerous contributions to his department, the college and the UAMS campus. His research leadership roles have included chairing the UAMS Institutional Biosafety Committee since 2014. As chair of the UAMS Academic Senate in 2016-2017, Voth worked to enhance faculty life throughout campus. He also served on the campus search committee that helped to recruit Cam Patterson, M.D., as UAMS chancellor and more recently on the committee that helped to select Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D., as UAMS vice chancellor for research. He was promoted to associate professor in 2014 and to professor in July 2019.

Voth’s research has focused on strategies that bacterial pathogens use to manipulate human cells and cause disease. He completed his doctoral research at the University of Oklahoma, where he investigated the impact of bacterial toxins on eukaryotic cell signaling. He completed postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana.

Voth’s research at UAMS has focused on the causative agent of the human Q fever, Coxiella burnettii. He and colleagues are also currently using novel human-derived lung infection systems to define the pulmonary innate immune response to Staphylococcus aureus. He has published extensively and has been continually funded by the NIH during his time at UAMS.

Voth has mentored numerous graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty members while also lecturing extensively in graduate and medical school courses. He directed the microbiology and immunology graduate program for four years and served on the UAMS Graduate Council for three years.

By Spencer Watson

Paul H. Phillips, M.D., has been appointed chair of the Department of Ophthalmology in the College of Medicine and director of the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

“Dr. Phillips brings exceptional strengths to his new post as a highly respected leader in pediatric ophthalmology, strabismus, and neuro-ophthalmology, and as a member of our faculty for the past 22 years,” said Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine. “He is widely known for his expertise and compassion in treating children and adults and has also garnered accolades for his teaching, mentoring, and contributions to research.”

Phillips was chosen after a national search was conducted to succeed Westfall, who stepped down as chair of the department in August 2018 to become dean of the College of Medicine.

“The Jones Eye Institute has a history of exceptional leadership under Dr. John Shock and Dr. Westfall, serving the people of Arkansas with world-class research and eye care. I am honored to be included among that company,” said Phillips. “I am also grateful for the opportunity to serve in a leadership capacity within the Department of Ophthalmology as it provides the very best in education and training for tomorrow’s ophthalmologists.”

Phillips was recruited to UAMS in 1997 and has held the rank of professor since 2008. He has served as chief of pediatric ophthalmology at Arkansas Children’s Hospital since 2006 and as director of the Ophthalmology Residency Program since 2015. He became the inaugural holder of the Stella Boyle Smith/Gissur J. Petursson, M.D., Chair in Ophthalmology in 2009.

Phillips graduated summa cum laude with his medical degree from State University of New York at Buffalo Medical School in 1989. He interned at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Florida Eye Center in Gainesville. He continued his training with a fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology at Emory University Eye Center in Atlanta, followed by a fellowship in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus at the Wilmer Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Phillips has been certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology since 1995. He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society, and the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS). He is a recipient of the AAO Senior Achievement Award and the AAPOS Honor Award and serves as senior associate editor of the Journal of AAPOS. He is president of the Consortium of Pediatric Neuro-Ophthalmologists.

By Benjamin Waldrum

AmyLeigh Overton-McCoy, Ph.D., APRN, a leading geriatric nursing specialist with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), was invested Jan. 16 in the Murphy Endowed Chair for Rural Aging Leadership and Policy.

“This is an extreme honor and privilege, and I will really treasure this opportunity to make a difference in so many lives,” said Overton-McCoy. “I grew up in rural Arkansas and I very much identify with rural health and the challenges we all face — the lack of access and the limitations. I will use these funds to ensure that we all have the equal opportunity to have a healthy life and do what we want to do in our own home.”

In April, Overton-McCoy was named director of the Centers on Aging, a program of the UAMS Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. As director, she oversees diverse services for seniors at six locations across the state. The UAMS Centers on Aging seek to improve quality of life for older adults and their families by providing local access to specialized education and clinical care. Overton-McCoy is also an assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Geriatrics.

An endowed chair is among the highest academic honors a university can bestow on a faculty member. A chair is established with gifts of at least $1 million, which are invested and the interest proceeds used to support the educational, research and clinical activities of the chair holder. Those named to a chair are among the most highly regarded scientists, physicians and professors in their fields.

“Dr. Overton-McCoy has been involved in nearly every aspect of geriatric care at UAMS since she arrived here more than two decades ago,” said UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA. “Her expertise and her compassion, especially for rural Arkansas, exemplifies the work we want to be doing as a statewide health center.”

The endowment establishing the chair came from Martha W. Murphy, a member of the Society of the Double Helix and former member of the UAMS Board of Advisors and the Reynolds Institute on Aging Community Advisory Board. Murphy has worked tirelessly to help the elderly, particularly those who live far from the UAMS main campus in Little Rock. She was the driving force behind establishing a Center on Aging in El Dorado in 2001, which became the template for additional centers. The chair supports efforts to address the needs of an aging society and to influence policy so that the most appropriate system of care is available for Arkansans.

Mark Wren, M.D., medical director for Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital of Texarkana and associate medical director for CHRISTUS St. Michael’s Wound Clinic in Texarkana, formerly directed UAMS Southwest — Texarkana. When Overton-McCoy became a member of the first UAMS MASH (Medical Applications of Science for Health) class from Texarkana, his father, the late Herb Wren, M.D., brought her to Little Rock and showed her around campus. Eventually they came to know each other well, and he cared for her father at the end of his life.

“I can’t say enough about her diligence and how she impacts people in the positive way that she does,” Wren said. “The feedback that you get from her colleagues and patients is unparalleled. Knowing that UAMS values her like this speaks volumes.”

Overton-McCoy was presented with a commemorative medallion by Patterson and Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor and College of Medicine dean. She thanked the Murphy family for their generosity in creating the endowed chair, as well as a long list of people who had helped her along the way, including her mother, grade school teachers, friends, family and staff, and Jeanne Wei, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Reynolds Institute. She reserved special thanks for her patients.

“As a clinician, my patients are the ones that give me my drive,” said Overton-McCoy. “They’re the ones that push me to know more, challenge me — and I would like to thank them for trusting me and believing in me to do what’s best for them. I want to continue to help others, and I want to ensure that we can make the end of life the best it can be.”

Overton-McCoy’s career has taken her from UAMS to across the state and back. She began at UAMS in 1996 as a research assistant in the College of Nursing before becoming an R.N. at Medical Park Hospital in Hope, Arkansas, later that year and director of compliance for Southwest Arkansas Development Council Home Health. She returned to UAMS a year later, leading multiple sleep studies on seniors at the Institute on Aging as a research project director while also a sleep lab tech at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock. While at UAMS, she was an R.N. in the Recuperative Care Unit/Medical Oncology Unit and clinical instructor of nursing in the College of Nursing.

She has served as geriatric nurse practitioner at multiple locations throughout her career, including Baltimore, Maryland, but mostly in Texarkana, where she has worked at Spanish Trace nursing home groups, CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System and Wadley Regional Medical Center since 2002. That same year she began her long association with the UAMS Center on Aging in Texarkana, first as an education director and geriatric nurse practitioner, then clinic director and associate director.

Overton-McCoy received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UAMS in 1996 and a Master of Nursing Science in 2000. She received her doctorate in 2010 from Capella University.

Overton-McCoy has done medical mission work in Ecuador, Mexico and Nicaragua. She is a member of the American Nurses Association and a former board member for Alzheimer’s Alliance and Four States Community Health Clinic. She continues to serve in southwest Arkansas as a member of the University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana College Women’s Guild and the Texarkana, Arkansas, Community Immersion Project.

Overton-McCoy has presented at more than two dozen conferences nationwide on multiple topics for seniors, including sleep studies, fall prevention, tai chi and physical activity, telemedicine and caregiver training. She has been instrumental in receiving more than $20 million in grants. In 2016, she was voted Best Health Care Professional — Geriatrics by AY Magazine readers. In 2017, she was named to the Great Nurses Foundation’s annual list of the state’s superb nurses.

By Benjamin Waldrum

Priya Mendiratta, M.D., M.P.H., geriatrician and director for the geriatric clerkship and course for medical students at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), was invested Jan. 16 in the Alexa L. & William T. Dillard Distinguished Chair in Geriatrics.

“Thank you so much for bestowing this great honor upon me and the Department of Geriatrics,” said Mendiratta. “I want to quote Gandhi, who has had a big influence in my life: ‘Be the change you want to see in the world, and always believe something wonderful is about to happen.’”

Mendiratta, who provides clinical care at the Thomas and Lyon Longevity Clinic in the UAMS Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, joined UAMS in 2005 as a geriatric fellow. An associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine, she will be elevated to full professor in July. She is also a Certified Medical Director in post-acute and long-term care medicine and is medical director of two long-term care facilities in the Little Rock area.

An endowed chair is among the highest academic honors a university can bestow on a faculty member. A distinguished chair is established with gifts of at least $1.5 million, which are invested and the interest proceeds used to support the educational, research and clinical activities of the chair holder. Those named to a chair are among the most highly regarded scientists, physicians and professors in their fields.

“Dr. Mendiratta is a true asset to the senior population of this state, and we can’t thank her enough for all her hard work,” said UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA. “She truly becomes a part of her patients’ lives in a transformative way, and she passes on that knowledge and compassion to her students in the classroom as well.”

The late William T. Dillard, the founder of Dillard’s Inc., one of the nation’s largest fashion apparel and home furnishings retailers, provided the initial funding for the chair. From an $8,000 investment in a single store in Nashville, Arkansas, Dillard built a premier retail chain with a national presence of more than 300 stores in 29 states.

“I am the permanent president and founding member of the Priya Mendiratta fan club,” said Paul Drew, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences and professor and director of research for the Department of Neurology, both in the UAMS College of Medicine. Mendiratta cared for Drew’s parents during the last 10 years of their lives.

“The best decision I ever made was to get my parents to Arkansas, because of the excellent clinical care she provided for them,” said Drew. “She helped them get to the specialists they needed; she arranged things for them to go to the ER; she visited them after hours in the hospital and the nursing home; she visited my father when he was in hospice; and she was there and provided eulogies at my parents’ services. If this isn’t complete and compassionate care, I don’t know what is. She is exceptional.”

Mendiratta was presented with a commemorative medallion by Patterson and Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor and College of Medicine dean. She thanked the Dillard family for their vision and generosity in establishing the chair. She also thanked her patients and their families, as well as her own family, her students, and her geriatrics colleagues and staff at the Reynolds Institute.

“We in Arkansas were accepted as immigrants and were welcomed with open arms,” said Mendiratta. “We were supported not only in our workplace, but in the city and the community, which has been an exhilarating experience. We have developed deep relationships with many of you, so thank you for being there for supporting us.”

Mendiratta received her medical degree from the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Sewagram, Nagpur University, India, and pursued her residency in internal medicine in India. She later received a master’s degree in public health from Boston University School of Public Health. Her clinical training in the United States includes a family medicine residency and a two-year geriatrics fellowship in the UAMS Department of Geriatrics.

Mendiratta has received numerous awards for her role in resident and medical student education. She has been an adviser to multiple medical students and has been working with the medical students’ academic houses program since its inception. She was elected to the UAMS Academic Senate as a College of Medicine representative in 2018 and is a member of many of the UAMS education committees.

Her teaching methodologies, development of the geriatrics curriculum and use of technology has transformed the student experience. She has introduced many innovative approaches in teaching, including interactive case modules, virtual reality, telemedicine, geriatric boot camp, and interprofessional geriatric simulation. Mendiratta is the state affiliate leader for the American Geriatric Society, representing the UAMS geriatric clerkship nationally at numerous meetings, where her guidance has helped generate an audience for student-developed innovative patient education products. She was named a Fellow of the American Geriatric Society in 2013.

Mendiratta is involved in educating trainees in developing countries and contributes her energy and expertise to various global programs for the underserved. She has been featured in the Best Doctors in America consistently over the past decade and has published clinical research in various peer-reviewed journals.

It looks like something conjured by the imagination, or perhaps an other-worldly landscape. But an award-winning artistic image actually has roots in the laboratory and creative minds of researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

Brian Storrie, Ph.D., a professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and research associate Irina Pokrovskaya, M.S., used 3D renderings from sophisticated microscopic imaging techniques to create a winning entry in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) 2019 BioArt competition.

Though it evokes a surreal world, the image actually shows a thrombus, or blood clot, that has formed inside the jugular vein of a mouse to close a puncture and stop bleeding. An aggregation of blood platelets appears as a wispy, pale purple cap over the reddish, globular mass of erythrocytes (red blood cells) within. Beneath the clot, the punctured jugular vein appears as a wavy pink and brown field. In the background, the lumen, or interior space inside the vein, appears black.

The UAMS researchers collaborated with Kenny Ling, B.S., Yajnesh Vedanaparti, B.S., Maria A. Aronova, Ph.D., and Richard D. Leapman, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) in Bethesda, Maryland, on the artistic project, and with additional collaborators at the NIBIB and the University of Kentucky in Lexington on studies that led to it.

“The actual image comes from playing with 3D renderings from 4,000 sequential cross section (images) of a five-minute post-wounding thrombus,” Storrie explained. “The cross-sections are spaced just 200 nanometers, or 0.2 microns, apart. Different layers of the structure can be made more or less transparent or translucent, and layers can be colored as wished.”

The genesis of the artwork was research into human platelet activation using ex vivo (outside of an organism) experiments. Storrie and colleagues at UAMS, the NIBIB and the University of Kentucky published two papers in the journal Blood Advances in 2018. The collaborators went on to consider what platelets do in vivo, or in the body, to form a thrombus to stop bleeding. The standard thinking had been that platelets form a plug that fills the hole of a wound, and the researchers began to explore this concept, working initially with mouse puncture wound samples produced by Tim Stalker, Ph.D., of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and later with samples produced at UAMS.

At the NIBIB, the team produced 20 image sets, each consisting of thousands of micrographs across individual thrombi, using a serial block face imaging electron microscope and then rendered into 3D images. At UAMS, the team produced an additional 15 image sets using wide area transmission electron microscopy, stitching together hundreds of individual electron micrographs at selected depths within a thrombus to yield highly detailed subcellular imaging at a resolution of 3 nanometers.

Storrie and his colleagues are working to document their findings. An initial short article on platelet activation state was published in Blood in November 2019, and subsequent detailed manuscripts are being prepared to highlight bleeding cessation mechanisms, the activation state of individual platelets in a forming thrombus, and the structural organization of thrombi. Ultimately, their work could yield valuable information for potential therapeutic targets for preventing life-threatening blood clots.

In the process of pursuing scientific knowledge, the researchers found the opportunity for a creative diversion, and the result was the entry in the FASEB BioArt contest. Storrie emphasized that the NIBIB’s Kenny Ling and UAMS’ Irina Pokrovskaya also had lead roles in the endeavor.

“There is much satisfaction in realizing that what is true of us can be captured in a beautiful and striking image,” Storrie said. “This is a team effort, and my congratulations to the team.”

By Amy Widner

Jay K. Bhama, M.D., has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as a heart surgeon, professor and chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery in the Department of Surgery.

He will lead the cardiovascular program at UAMS by working alongside Paul Mounsey, M.D., director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine. Both departments are in the UAMS College of Medicine.

Bhama is a nationally recognized heart surgeon with significant health care leadership experience within the cardiovascular arena. With a special interest and expertise in heart valve surgery as well as mechanical circulatory support, Bhama brings a unique skillset to the cardiovascular program at UAMS.

Bhama divides his time between UAMS and Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock, where he serves as the Heart Failure and Transplant Institute’s surgical director for heart transplantation and co-director for mechanical circulatory support (MCS) and left ventricular assist devices (LVAD).

Bhama formerly was professor and chief of the adult cardiac surgery program at University of Iowa Health Care in Iowa City. Under his leadership, the program became a regional leader in heart valve surgery, structural heart disease and MCS/LVAD. A national expert and thought-leader in the field of heart failure surgery, Bhama also was director of the heart transplantation, MCS, and extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation programs. Prior to that, Bhama was associate director of the cardiothoracic (heart and lung) transplant and artificial heart programs at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Bhama earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and completed a general surgical residency in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, also at Baylor. He completed cardiothoracic surgical training at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He also completed an advanced cardiac surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and a fellowship in cardiothoracic transplant and mechanical circulatory support at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Bhama is a diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and American Board of Thoracic Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American College of Cardiology, and American College of Chest Physicians. Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. has named him one of the nation’s top doctors in thoracic and cardiac surgery based upon peer nominations.

Bhama is widely published, with over 100 peer-reviewed publications. He holds several patents on innovative medical devices and serves as a reviewer for the field’s leading medical journal. He is also the state’s only cardiothoracic surgeon member of the prestigious American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

Bhama has been in practice for over 15 years and his clinical interests focus on heart failure surgery, such as left ventricular assist devices and heart transplantation, as well as general cardiac surgery, including heart valve surgeries such as complex mitral valve repair. His research focuses on clinical outcomes after heart transplant and MCS procedures and the development of innovative medical devices for the management of advanced heart failure.