Department News

DFPM-RED Featured in Inviting Arkansas

DFPM-RED’s Project PLAY developer Dr. Nicola Edge is featured in this new article on the Arkansas Trauma Resource Initiative for Schools (T R I S*).

“We also want to be able to assist children and families in accessing mental health services when they need them. We know mental health treatment works, and so part of the role of TRIS is to support children and families in accessing proven effective trauma treatment services.”

Link to article

*T R I S provides training, resources, and other support to all school personnel across the state. The initiative is a collaboration between UAMS, the Arkansas Department of Education (A D E) and other key stakeholders. It is funded by a generous behavioral health grant from the Blue and You Foundation.

CDC Foundation Grant

DFPM-RED’s HIV Team was among 53 community-based organizations selected by the CDC Foundation to implement and expand HIV self-testing programs. The team will create a social media campaign targeting rural communities and those with substance use disorders. The campaign will be shared through websites, social media, and using print materials to advertise At-Home HIV testing. UAMS will form collaborative partnerships with key agencies to assist with the distribution of At-Home HIV testing (kits), outreach efforts, and information sharing, to provide resources to 500 Arkansans. DFPM-RED Faculty member Latunja Sockwell will serve as PI on the project with HIV team Program Manager Courtney Hampton serving as Co-PI. The 10.5-month grant totals $100,000.

Link: CDC Foundation Supports 53 Community-Based Organizations to Implement and Expand HIV Self-Testing Programs

DFPM-RED Faculty Featured in DHHS Video Series

DFPM-RED’s Dr. Nikki Edge and other colleagues from around the state are featured in this new video from The Children’s Division – a project of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Children’s Social-Emotional Development and Mental Health: Why Does It Matter?

Early childhood experiences can strengthen or disrupt a young child’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, with consequences that can last a lifetime. This video spotlights the importance of integrating support for the social-emotional development of young children and the well-being of their caregivers into all child- and family-serving programs.

LINK

DFPM-RED Faculty Co-Authors Study Receiving National Attention

DFPM-RED’s Kanna Lewis, Ph.D., along with members of the CDC have published a report regarding the impact of mask-mandates in schools during COVID. The report was recently highlighted by the CDC and has drawn the attention of both local and national media outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

The study found that in Arkansas during August–October 2021, districts with universal mask requirements had a 23% lower incidence of COVID-19 among staff members and students compared with districts without mask requirements. The study concluded that masks remain an important part of a multicomponent approach to prevent COVID-19 in K–12 settings, especially in communities with high levels of COVID-19.

DFPM-RED Team Member Appointed to Commission by Governor

UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Research and Evaluation Division (DFPM-RED) team member Elizabeth Waldrum was recently appointed to the Arkansas Early Childhood Commission/Early Head Start Governing Board. The board advises the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education in supporting the optimal and ongoing development of young children in Arkansas by:

Providing technical assistance in the design of programs for early childhood professionals
Assisting in long-range planning
Promoting coordination among state agencies and advising state agencies on the development of early childhood standards;
Reviewing and approving proposed rules for minimum licensing standards governing the granting, revocation, refusal, and suspension of child care licenses.

Ms. Waldrum will serve as Social-Emotional/Clinical Commissioner. Board members are appointed by the Arkansas Governor to 3-Year terms of service. Ms. Waldrum replaces former board member Kimberly Whitman, also of DFPM-RED.

DFPM-RED Faculty Member Added to Governor’s Task Force

DFPM-RED’s Dr. Nicola Edge, Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine, and Dr. Sufna John, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, were appointed by Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to the Blue Ribbon Task Force to End Child Abuse. Created during last year’s regular session of the Arkansas General Assembly, the task force will pursue a systematic and holistic approach to eliminating child abuse in the state. Dr. Edge and Dr. John are Co-Directors of the ARBEST (Arkansas Building Effective Services for Trauma) program, which works to improve outcomes for children and families who have experienced trauma through activities promoting excellence in child care, advocacy, training and evaluation.

In Memoriam: Kent McKelvey, M.D., CHE Medical Director and Leader in Genetics Research

February 1, 2022 – Kent McKelvey, M.D., 52, of Little Rock died Monday, Jan. 17. He was an Associate Professor in the Division of Genetics and served as Director of Cancer Genetics Services in the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. He was also a long-time medical director for the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine’s Community Health and Education division.

Dr. McKelvey had been battling acute myeloid leukemia for the past five years. His devotion to his patients, his mission in his field and his love of life sustained him through three stem cell transplants, the most recent in July 2021.

A faculty member since 2003, Dr. McKelvey was a founding member of the Division of Genetics and served as Director of Cancer Genetics Services in the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. He was a champion for Arkansans with Down syndrome and other genetic conditions and was instrumental in establishing the Adult Genetics Clinic at UAMS. He was invested as the inaugural recipient of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Chair in Clinical Genetics in 2009.

Dr. McKelvey was a nationally recognized leader on the ethical use of predictive genetic testing in clinical medicine and was on the forefront of teaching the responsible use of molecular genetics in preventive medicine. Between his own stem-cell transplants, he tenaciously continued his career seeing patients and families via telemedicine and working closely with the Arkansas Down Syndrome Association on their behalf. After many years of research, despite his ongoing battle with AML, he published definitive guidelines for treatment of adults with Down syndrome in JAMA in October 2020, and continued his collaboration with fellow members on the American College of Medical Genetics Secondary Findings Committee, which resulted in authorship of his final publication on genome sequencing in Nature Genetics in Medicine in May 2021.

Dr. McKelvey is one of six doctors from three generations of his family to practice in the state of Arkansas. He received his medical degree from UAMS in 1996 and completed his residency at the UAMS Family Medicine program in Texarkana. After working in emergency departments in DeQueen and Nashville, Arkansas, and two years in private practice in Mountain Home, he completed a fellowship in medical genetics at his college alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2003, he returned to Arkansas to raise a family and rejoined UAMS as Director of the Family Medicine Pre-doctoral Program in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. Dr. McKelvey served in the Division of Genetics following its establishment in 2008, and continued to hold an additional appointment in Family Medicine. He directed the Medical Genetics Course in the College of Medicine, and was elected by his students for numerous teaching awards.

Dr. McKelvey brought his gift of strength and determination to the diverse roles he served at UAMS throughout his life. He was an intense person with a good sense of humor and a force of vitality wherever he went. Although his career goal was to give back to those around him, he spent much of his final years at UAMS as a patient rather than a physician, and he found himself overwhelmed with gratitude for the physicians, colleagues, nurses and staff who would treat him like family at the only hospital that would ever feel like home. He considered these final years to be the happiest of his life. Dr. McKelvey’s family would like to extend their thanks to all those who cared for him.

Service arrangements are on hold due to the recent pandemic surge, but a celebration of life is being tentatively planned both in Memphis and in Little Rock, and dates will be forthcoming.

He is survived by his wife, Elise; his children, Caroline and Kent David McKelvey III; his stepdaughters, Anna Douglas Piper and Mary Catherine Piper; his sister and fellow UAMS faculty member Dr. Samantha McKelvey; his sister and Neonatal Intensive Care CNP, APRN at ACH, Betsy McKelvey Peeler, and their entire family in your thoughts during this difficult time. He is also survived by his mother and stepfather, Don Varner and Josephine Charlotte Egner Varner, and half-brothers Michael Varner and Matthew McKelvey. He was pre-deceased by father Dr. K. David McKelvey Sr.

Colorectal Cancer Screening Up Eight Percent in Northeast Arkansas with Community Health and Education’s PiCS-AR! Project

September 2022 – Colorectal cancer screening rates jumped by almost eight percent in northeast Arkansas clinics that partnered with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) during the first year of a five-year project to increase screening in the state.

The Partnerships in Colorectal Cancer Screening (PiCS-AR!) is a project of the UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine’s Community Health and Education Division. In 2020, the division received a $2.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to carry out the project.

Since then, its first clinic partner, 1st Choice Healthcare, exceeded its initial screening goals in five out of six clinics it operates in Salem, Pocahontas, Paragould, Corning and Ash Flat. The provider’s screening rate was 37% a year ago, and most of the clinics now hover in the mid-40s, with the Pocahontas clinic making the biggest jump, from 29% to 45% in one year.

Denise Boyer, RN, a patient navigator for 1st Choice Healthcare clinics in Ash Flat and Salem, displays her “Fit Just Takes a Bit” button that clinic staff wore to initiate patient conversations about colorectal screening, and a cookie shared during an educational activity on stool-based screening.

The project targets primary care clinics, especially in counties with low screening rates and low average household incomes. It works directly with providers to teach them best practices and help them implement techniques for increasing screening in their clinics.

Since September of 2020, UAMS and the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) have coached patient navigators at the clinics. The navigators – experienced registered nurses who educate patients about the risk of developing colon cancer and explain screening options – are credited for making a noticeable impact on screening rates in a short period of time.

“More and more conversations between providers and patients are happening about the importance of colorectal screenings,” said Alysia Dubriske, M.Ed., director of the Community Health and Education Division. “Not only is that an objective of the project, but it’s also the first step in preventing late-stage colon cancer.”

She said provider reminders and chart alerts in the clinics’ electronic health system also worked particularly well, noting, “When patients visited, the clinic staff would check to see if they were due for a screening, and set up appointments for those who were.”

“Screening for colorectal cancer is extremely important in that it is one of the few measures that can prevent cancer from developing,” said Jonathan Laryea, M.D., chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. “There are very few cancers that can be prevented that way. Not only does it prevent cancer, but it allows cancer to be identified at an early stage, which improves survival and also prevents the complications of cancer.”

A colonoscopy is the clearest, most complete screening, but another option is an at-home screening test that is designed to detect DNA abnormalities or blood in the stool, both of which could be indicators of colon cancer or precancerous conditions.

“The best colorectal cancer screening test is the one that patients are most likely to complete,” said Marybeth Curtis, RN and program manager for the PiCS-AR! Campaign, quoting a senior health analyst at the Mayo Clinic.

“I love that quote,” she said. “Forty-six percent of colorectal cancer deaths in the United States are a result of missed screening opportunities. Patient adherence to screening is the key.”

Curtis said one goal of the grant project is to educate providers and patients that stool-based tests are an effective, low-cost alternative to colonoscopies in screening average-risk patients for colorectal cancer.

She noted that stool-based tests are actually preferred by patients, “which leads to improved follow-up in completing their screening.”

“Screening is the best way to beat colorectal cancer,” Laryea agreed. ”My best advice to all adults 45 years and older is, ‘Get your rear in gear and get screened.’”

“Ultimately, our goal is to reduce the amount of late-stage colorectal cancer in Arkansas and the number of colorectal cancer deaths in Arkansas,” Dubriske said.

Nationwide, colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths for men and women combined and is expected to cause about 53,000 deaths during 2021, including 500 deaths in Arkansas, according to the American Cancer Society.

MaryBeth Curtis, RN, of the UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine (second from left), holds a card alerting patients that 45 is the new baseline age for colorectal screening. Curtis, PICS AR program manager, is surrounded at 1st Choice Healthcare’s Ash Flat clinic by clinic employees (from left) Deborah King, APRN; Starla Smith, APRN; and Denise Boyer, RN and nurse navigator. The card says “45 is the new FIT-ty” and will be sent to patients as they turn 45, along with a kit they can use for their at-home test.

Healthy Brain and Child Development Study

As part of a nationwide study, The HBCD study: HEALthy Brain and Child Development, DFPM-RED’s Dr. Lorraine McKelvey’s team (along with Dr. Leanne Whiteside-Mansell) have been studying new techniques in assessing family life using virtual assessments. Preliminary results suggest that using zoom to interview families is useful and will likely be used in the new national study funded and starting data collection in 2022. Her team has a presentation accepted to the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) National Research Conference on Early Childhood 2022 titled Home Observation Measurement of the Environment: Shifting to Virtual Assessments.

DFPM-RED Faculty to Present

Four RED faculty members will speak at Dr. Ward’s invitation to present on Team Science in January: How Faculty Work Together to Stay Funded and Keep Trained Research Staff.

https://calendar.uams.edu/tri/view/event/event_id/1069125