The UAMS Little Rock Family Medicine residency program is happy to announce that Jennilee Foster has joined the team as Residency Coordinator.

She has been with UAMS since 2018 and has served as an Executive Assistant and Education Coordinator, as well as interim Residency coordinator.

Dr. Lauren Gibson-Oliver, Program Director, says “Jennilee brings a wealth of administrative experience to the team and has already made significant contributions to our department. She is an exceptional team member, and we are excited to see her continue to thrive in her new role.”

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.

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.

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!

Congratulations to our Family Medicine physicians who were chosen for Castle Connolly Top Doctors recognition by their peers and patients.

Bryan H. Clardy, M.D. (Fort Smith)
Jason B. Cobb, M.D. (Pine Bluff)
Jamie D. Howard, M.D. (Little Rock)
Tabasum Imran, M.D. (Fort Smith)
Katherine A. Irish-Clardy, M.D. (Fort Smith)
David L. King, M.D. (Fort Smith)
Toni Lynn Middleton, M.D. (Pine Bluff)

See the full list of all UAMS physicians who received this honor.