By Tamara Robinson 

June 12, 2023 | LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine appointed Shashank Kraleti, M.D., as chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, effective July 1.

Kraleti will also hold the Dr. Algernon Sidney Garnett Chair in Family Medicine.

“Dr. Kraleti has served in numerous leadership roles since completing his residency training at UAMS and joining the faculty in 2012,” said G. Richard Smith, M.D., interim College of Medicine dean and executive vice chancellor of UAMS. “He has gained national recognition for his outstanding work to enhance the Little Rock Family Medicine Residency Program. He is highly respected by residents and faculty colleagues for his clinical skills and for the passion he brings to training outstanding family physicians.”

Kraleti has served as director of the department’s family residency program since 2016 and previously held other leadership roles in the program. He assumed the role of clinical informaticist in 2019. Since May 2022, he also has served as director of primary care services, a position he will continue to hold.

“I am excited for the opportunity to continue to serve and lead my family medicine and UAMS family that I have been a part of for more than a decade,” Kraleti said. “I look forward to working towards our vision of improving the health of Arkansans by providing relationship-centered and equitable care, while training the best and brightest family physicians, and conducting pioneering research in primary care.”

He has received many honors at UAMS and the national level. Kraleti was invested as the Jack W. Kennedy Chair in Family and Preventive Medicine at UAMS in 2013. He received the College of Medicine Residency Educator-Program Director Award in 2019. Recent national honors include the 2023 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors Program Director Silver Recognition, also this year.

Kraleti succeeds Richard Turnage, M.D., vice chancellor of Regional Campuses, who has served as interim chair since July 2020.

Kraleti earned his medical degree at Andhra Medical College in Visakhapatnam, India, in 2005. He came to UAMS for his family medicine residency in 2009 and served as chief resident in his final year of training. He completed the National Institute for Program Director Development Fellowship in 2013-2014 and more recently completed a practice pathway Clinical Informatics Fellowship at UAMS in 2022. He also completed the Association of Departments of Family Medicine (ADFM) Leadership Education for Academic Development and Success (LEADS) fellowship in 2023.

He has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians (FAAFP) since 2017. He is active in several other national professional organizations, including the Society of Teachers in Family Medicine, for which he serves on the Family and Behavioral Health Collaborative and the Global Health Educators Collaborative. He is a board member of the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians.

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute and Institute for Digital Health & Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,240 students, 913 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 11,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

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