UAMS College of Medicine Graduate Medical Education (GME) leaders Jim Clardy, M.D., and Molly Gathright, M.D., have accepted new leadership roles as UAMS implements strategies to support the pipeline of educating and training physicians for Arkansas.
Clardy, who had served as associate dean for GME in the college since 2004, was named director of the newly established UAMS Center for Graduate Medical Education in the Office of the UAMS Provost.
Gathright, who had served as assistant dean for GME since 2016, was appointed associate dean for GME in the College of Medicine. She also assumed Clardy’s former role as the Designated Institutional Official (DIO) for the college, overseeing its residency and fellowship programs and ensuring compliance with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., UAMS senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, provost and chief strategy officer, and Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., FACS, executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the college of medicine, announced the appointments in an Aug. 19 message to faculty.
As UAMS’ representative and thought-leader on GME in Arkansas, Clardy will work to galvanize statewide actions to increase physician residency slots and ensure and improve the quality of new and existing training programs throughout the state. Residency training is required for licensure, and residents are statistically more likely to go on to practice in communities near where they completed training.
“As Arkansas’ only health sciences university, we must ensure that our medical school graduates have the opportunity to pursue their GME in Arkansas and, likewise, that GME programs in our state are of the highest quality,” Westfall said. “It is imperative to support the pipeline of educating and training physicians for our state and to address current and future physician shortages.”
A key objective of “Vision 2029,” the 10-year institutional strategic plan adopted by UAMS in July, is to substantially increase residency positions in Arkansas, with at least 50% of the new positions in primary care. UAMS and the College of Medicine are working with numerous health systems and hospitals, communities and leaders to develop new residency programs.
“Dr. Clardy’s extensive experience and leadership in GME is a remarkable asset for our state as we develop and implement strategies to accomplish these goals,” Gardner said.
Clardy, a professor of psychiatry, has been active in residency education since joining the faculty in 1993. He directed the Psychiatry Residency Program prior to becoming associate dean in 2004. His national roles have included membership on the steering committee for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Resident Affairs and the ACGME Institutional Review Committee.
Gathright, an associate professor of psychiatry, has been active in residency education since joining the faculty in 2008. She served as program director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency before becoming assistant dean in 2016. Other leadership roles have included directing the Transitional Year Residency and the Faculty Wellness Program.
“Dr. Gathright is an exceptional, award-winning educator and leader,” Westfall said. “She has been instrumental in many initiatives to enhance our residency programs and help our medical students and graduates as they prepare for the next stage of their journey toward becoming well-trained, outstanding physicians.”