Please join us in welcoming these recent additions to the College of Medicine faculty.
Department of Internal Medicine
Rushita Bagchi, Ph.D.
Rushita Bagchi, Ph.D., has joined the Department of Internal Medicine as an Assistant Professor and researcher in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. Dr. Bagchi earned her Master of Science in zoology from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in India in 2005. She received her doctorate in physiology and pathology in 2016 from the University of Manitoba in Canada, where her research focused on cardiovascular pathophysiology and gene transcription. Dr. Bagchi comes to UAMS from the University of Colorado Denver, where she served as a postdoctoral research fellow focusing on epigenetics, metabolism, pharmacology and translational research.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Justin Hire, M.D.
Justin Hire, M.D., has joined the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery as a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at Arkansas Children’s Northwest in Springdale. Dr. Hire received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in 2011. He completed his internship and residency in orthopaedic surgery at Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Georgia, and continued his training with a fellowship in pediatric orthopaedics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Hire most recently was an Assistant Professor of clinical orthopaedic surgery in the Pediatrics Department at Women’s and Children’s Hospital at the University of Missouri in Columbia and the Cox Medical Center South in Springfield, Missouri. He previously served at General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, as an orthopaedic staff surgeon and Chief of the Orthopaedics and Podiatry Department. A decorated U.S. Army veteran, Dr. Hire was deployed with the Army’s 541st Forward Surgical Team as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in Ash Shaddadi, Syria, in 2017.
Department of Pathology
Felicia Allard, M.D.
Felicia Allard, M.D., has joined the Department of Pathology as an Associate Professor in the GI and Cytopathology divisions. Dr. Allard received her medical degree at the University of Colorado Denver & Health Sciences Center. She completed her residency and clinical fellowship in gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Allard continued her training with a fellowship in cytopathology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Prior to her recruitment to UAMS, Dr. Allard served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, New York.
Department of Psychiatry
Aaron Carson, M.D.
Aaron Carson, M.D., has joined the Department of Psychiatry as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Carson received his medical degree from UAMS in 2012. He completed his residency in psychiatry at UAMS, serving as Chief Resident at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus in his final year. Dr. Carson most recently served as Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville. He sees patients for the AR-Connect program and Psychiatric Research Institute-Northwest at the behavioral health offices in Fayetteville.
Brian Kirkpatrick, M.D., MSPH
Brian Kirkpatrick, M.D., MSPH, has joined the Department of Psychiatry as a Professor. A graduate of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, he most recently served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Nevada at Reno School of Medicine. He is a former Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Texas A&M College of Medicine, and former Vice Chair of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. His research and clinical work have focused on schizophrenia and related disorders.
Brian Mooney, M.D
Brian Mooney, M.D., has joined the Department of Psychiatry as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Mooney received his medical degree from UAMS in 2001 and completed his residency in psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa. He most recently practiced at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, where he served as lead psychiatrist for the Trauma Recovery Program. He also served as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor for the UAMS Department of Psychiatry, supervising medical students and psychiatry residents at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus. Dr. Mooney sees patients in the Psychiatric Research Institute Northwest’s outpatient clinic in Fayetteville as well as the AR-Connect Northwest Arkansas office.