Please join us in welcoming these recent additions to the College of Medicine faculty.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Matthew Jorgenson, Ph.D.
Matthew Jorgenson, Ph.D., has joined the Department of Microbiology and Immunology faculty as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Jorgenson received his doctorate from the University of Iowa. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at UAMS and served in a non-tenure track faculty position prior to his current appointment. Dr. Jorgenson’s research relates to the shape of bacteria that is determined primarily by a rigid casing known as the peptidoglycan wall. His work focuses on understanding how cells produce and maintain the peptidoglycan layer, by studying cytoskeletal proteins, peptidoglycan modifying enzymes and other morphological mechanisms.
Department of Pathology
Bolni Marius Nagalo, Ph.D.
Bolni Marius Nagalo, Ph.D., has joined the Department of Pathology as an Assistant Professor in the Experimental Pathology Division. Dr. Nagalo received his undergraduate degree, a master’s in molecular genetics and his doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Ouaga-JKZ in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where he went on to serve as a fellow in the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Molecular Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and joined the Mayo faculty. He served in a number of research positions at Mayo’s Rochester and Scottsdale, Arizona, campuses and was an Assistant Professor of Oncology and of Molecular Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science from 2019 until his recruitment to UAMS.
Dr. Nagalo’s research interests include translational virotherapy and gene therapy for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancers, and addressing health disparities in liver cancer, cancer therapy and cancer-focused research. He has received numerous honors during his training and career to date, including a Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award (K01) from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute in 2018, the Welcome Trust Mobility and Skills Training Award from Cardiff University in 2018, and the Kathryn H. and Roger Penske Career Development Award at Mayo Clinic’s Arizona Campus in 2019.
Department of Psychiatry
Tisha Deen, Ph.D.
Tisha Deen, Ph.D., has joined the faculty as an Associate Professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine. Dr. Deen practices in the Integrated Behavioral Health Program in the Integrated Medicine Service Line. She also supervises psychology interns in the Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Deen was a clinical psychologist and primary care mental health integration (PCMHI) psychologist with the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS) for five years prior to joining UAMS.
She received her bachelor’s in psychology and master’s and doctorate degrees in clinical psychology at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Dr. Deen completed her clinical internship in the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute. She continued her training as a VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research (CeMHOR) at CAVHS.
Greer Sullivan, M.D., MSPH
Greer Sullivan, M.D., MSPH, has rejoined the faculty as a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Sullivan initially joined the department as an Associate Professor in 1997 and in 2002 was promoted to Professor in the Center for Health Services Research and the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health. She moved to California in 2014 to become a professor at the University of California Riverside School of Medicine and an adjunct senior scientist with the RAND Corporation.
Dr. Sullivan returned to UAMS in April and sees patients in the Psychiatric Research Institute (PRI) Walker Family Clinic and the AR-Connect program. She also directs the Department of Psychiatry’s Research Academic Track and serves as Medical Director of PRI’s Center for Trauma Prevention, Recovery & Innovation (CTPRI).
Dr. Sullivan received her medical degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson. She interned at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and completed her residency in psychiatry at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and West Los Angeles VA Hospital.
Samidha Tripathi, M.D.
Samidha Tripathi, M.D., is rejoining the Department of Psychiatry as an Assistant Professor in July. Dr. Tripathi will help develop a Consult Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship as well as serve as Co-Director of the Psychiatry Clerkship for third-year medical students.
Dr. Tripathi served as an Assistant Professor in the department and attending psychiatrist in the Psychiatric Research Institute for four years before relocating to the University of Washington in Seattle in July 2020. She received honors while at UAMS for her work in the Psychiatry Clerkship and resident education. She also received the Early Career Development Award from the Association of Academic Psychiatry in 2019 and the Irma Bland Award from the American Psychiatric Association in 2020, and was appointed as a Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association last January.
Dr. Tripathi received her medical degree from Kasturba Medical College in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. She completed her residency in general psychiatry at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and a fellowship in psychosomatic medicine/consultation and liaison psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.