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
Department News
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.
(HHS video link is no longer online)
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.
More on ARBEST.
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.
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.
Family Medicine Resident Featured in UAMS Video
Our own PGY-2 resident Dr. John Ukadike and other UAMS residents discuss what makes their training here so special. Watch the video and learn more about why UAMS is the place to be.
Faculty Members Earn Distinctions in the Past Year
Our faculty members always perform notable work, but 2020-2021 was a special year of note.
Faculty distinctions include:
Shashank Kraleti, M.D., FAAFP, received a 2021 Program Director Bronze Recognition Award from the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors.
Leslie Stone M.D., MPH. received the UAMS Edith Irby Jones Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award for Early Career Faculty.
Steve Sorsby M.D., MHA, received the 2021 Outstanding Family Medicine Teaching Award from our graduating residents. Dr. Sorsby also received the Master Evaluator Award from the residency program for his superior work on evaluating resident clinical performance.
Lauren Gibson-Oliver M.D., MBA, was featured in a UAMS-produced YouTube video about the importance of breastfeeding.
Taren Swindle, Ph.D., was named a Health Disparities Research Institute Scholar by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Dr. Swindle also received the 2021 Norman Kretchmer Award in Nutrition and Development from the American Society for Nutrition. And there’s more: She also received a UAMS Implementation Science Pilot Award for her project titled “Assessing the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Virtual Approach to De-implementation of Inappropriate Feeding Practices in Early Care and Education.”
Lorraine McKelvey, Ph.D., received national notice for her work on home-visiting support for low-birth-weight preterm infants.
Articles written by Dan Knight M.D., FAAFP, and Diane Jarrett Ed.D., were added to the AAFP Academy Updates LGBTQ Health Toolkit, an online resource for clinicians.