Sheldon Riklon, M.D., and Thomas Schulz, M.D., associate professors in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine on the Northwest Regional Campus, were recently inducted into the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation.
The society was formed by leaders of 19 southern medical schools in 1946 to advance medically related research and encourage residents and fellows to pursue academic medicine. Riklon and Schulz were inducted during the organization’s annual meeting in February in New Orleans.
Sheldon Riklon, M.D.
Membership is through nomination by members in good standing. Peter O. Kohler, M.D., a distinguished professor in the UAMS College of Medicine, nominated both to the society. Kohler was vice chancellor for the Northwest Arkansas Region from 2009 until 2016 and remains in a research role on campus.
“Our faculty are leaders in educating future health care leaders and in conducting important research in community-based care,” said Pearl McElfish, Ph.D., MBA, associate vice chancellor for the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus. “Having two of our faculty in this prestigious society speaks loudly of their dedication to academic medicine and UAMS.”
Riklon is the Peter O. Kohler, M.D., Endowed Distinguished Professor in Health Disparities and an associate professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. He is one of only two Marshallese physicians to complete medical school and residency training from U.S.-accredited programs. Riklon trains residents in the Family Medicine Clinic on the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus and sees patients at the Community Clinic in Springdale, offering culturally appropriate care to the clinic’s Marshallese patients. Riklon earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Hawaii at Hilo and his medical degree from the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He joined UAMS in 2016 from the John A. Burns School of Medicine, where he was an assistant professor and the family medicine clerkship director in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.
Tom Schulz, M.D.
Schulz is director of the internal medicine residency program and an associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology. He is co-director of the North Street Clinic, which provides health care to area Marshallese living with type 2 diabetes and related chronic conditions. Schulz also oversees the Internal Medicine Clinic at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus in Fayetteville. He earned his medical degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of Kansas School of Medicine – Wichita, serving as chief resident. Before joining UAMS in 2015, he served as an associate professor and associate director of internal medicine residency program at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.
Schulz is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the American Medical Association and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; hospital; northwest Arkansas regional campus; statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Myeloma Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,834 students, 822 medical residents and six dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses throughout the state, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.