Department News

Dr. Bala Simon has been elected to a one-year term as President of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors.

Dr. Bala — who has teaching and clinical appointments in the UAMS colleges of Public Health and Medicine — is serving a one-year term that began in September for the 7,000-member organization, which advocates and educates with a goal to promote leadership and capacity to address chronic disease prevention and control efforts across the nation.

He is a board-certified Family Medicine physician, an epidemiologist, and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH). He joined the DFPM in 2013 and currently serves as an adjunct Clinical Associate Professor and precepts residents and medical students in the FMC. Dr. Bala also is board certified in Obesity Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine. He graduated from the UAMS Little Rock Family Medicine residency program in 2013.

Blueprint magazine, a publication of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, features Dr. Nikki Edge on the front cover of the Winter 2024 issue.

The accompanying article discusses TRIS, the Trauma Resource Initiative for Schools, which equips more than 7,500 educators and caregiving adults to recognize the trauma-related needs of students, families, and staff.

Dr. Edge is a professor in the UAMS DFPM Research and Evaluation Division. TRIS is a collaboration between the UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) and other key stakeholders. TRIS was established with a grant from the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas. To learn more about TRIS, visit http://tris-ar.org.

The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine has chosen Dr. Diane Jarrett to be co-editor of their monthly Education Column that appears in the STFM Messenger publication.

The peer-reviewed STFM Education Column focuses on descriptions of innovative undergraduate or graduate medical education curricula, solutions that address common educational challenges, innovative faculty development, and other educational topics.

Dr. Jarrett’s responsibilities will include reviewing and editing submitted manuscripts, communicating with the authors to guide revisions, and selecting content for 12 columns per year.

See previous issues of the STFM Education Column.

Dr. Jeff Balkenbush (PGY-3 and Chief Resident) has been accepted into the University of Oklahoma – Oklahoma City sports medicine fellowship for 2024-2025.

He will graduate from the UAMS Little Rock Family Medicine residency program in June 2024.

Congratulations to Dr. Balkenbush for earning this distinction. (We hope he finishes his training and comes back to Arkansas to practice!)

Dr. Amrutha Denduluri (PGY-3) and Dr. Meghan Gibson (PGY-3) have been awarded with a plaque in honor of the poster they presented at the AAPI Arkansas 15th Year Annual Event in October 2023. The poster won the third-place award. (AAPI is the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin.)

The poster was titled Current State of Screening and Addressing Obesity in a Family Medicine Clinic and was co-authored by Dr. Jarrett and Dr. Kraleti.

“Detection of parechovirus A in respiratory, gastrointestinal, and neurological clinical samples of pediatric patients from Panama (2014–2015)” is the name of the article recently published in Virology Journal and co-authored by Dr. Viridiana Saenz, PGY-2 resident in the UAMS Little Rock Family Medicine residency program.

Read the complete article.

COM Dean G. Richard Smith presented Dr. Jarrett with the UAMS College of Medicine MVP Award during a surprise event in the DFPM.

Dr. Jarrett thought she was meeting with Dr. Kraleti to discuss changes in the website and in email distribution lists. Instead, she was surprised to find the Dean and many DFPM colleagues waiting to present this award to her.

The DFPM was really noticed in December, as Angie Kyzer from RED won the MVP Award earlier in the month. Great job!

Dr. Amrutha Denduluri, a PGY-3 resident in the DFPM Little Rock Family Medicine residency program, has won a national distinction.

She has been chosen to receive the STFM Faculty for Tomorrow Resident Scholarship for 2024.

The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine chose Dr. Denduluri for this award due to her great potential as FM faculty. She receives free registration for the STFM Annual Conference in Los Angeles and for a special workshop with targeted discussions on academic career advice and how to learn change as a physician.

Congratulations to Dr. Denduluri!

Three DFPM physicians have been named to AY Magazine’s list of Best Women in Health Care for 2023.

From left: Marielie Heidi Agesilas MD, Jennifer Dukes-Casey MD, and Lauren Gibson-Oliver MD, MBA.

See https://aymag.com/ays-best-women-in-health-care-2023/ for the complete list.

Congratulations!