Fellowship

Dear Prospective Applicant,

Thank you for your interest in our Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Medicine Fellowship Program. We are proud and thrilled to offer a one of a kind, ACGME accredited, multidisciplinary pain fellowship that will allow our graduates to be eligible for board certification in Pain Medicine.

We are the only accredited pain medicine fellowship program in the state of Arkansas and our goals are as follows:

1. Provide excellent, experiential education in innovative, interventional, opioid-sparing chronic pain care.
2. Foster participation in knowledge advancement in the field of chronic pain through novel research initiatives.
3. Establish opportunities for future collaboration through networking and international society involvement.
4. Provide unique experiences and learning opportunities that will help differentiate you from your current and future peers.

The fellowship year is divided between the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital (AR-VA). At UAMS, continuity clinic is held at the Interventional Pain Clinic in the newly opened Orthopaedic Spine Hospital. Here, fellows will gain experience with spine procedures ranging from epidurals and radiofrequency ablations to neuromodulation and vertebral augmentation. Fellows also rotate with Dr. Erika Petersen who is a national leader in functional and restorative neurosurgery to gain more experience with complex neuromodulation.

Dr. Matthew Goodwin, who is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation, is the Site Director at the AR-VA. The AR-VA provides a truly multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation program where therapists, psychologists, and physicians work side by side. Here, fellows also gain experiences in opioid use disorder treatment, palliative care, chiropractic care, and diagnostic electromyography.

Our diverse, enthusiastic core faculty has trained at several of the top institutions in the country including Weill Cornell Medical School at New York Presbyterial Hospital, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, and Washington University in St. Louis at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Our research initiatives are also diverse and include several industry funded multi-center neuromodulation device trials and multiple intramural and extramural grant funded research projects. These include closed loop stimulation, patient reported outcome measures, racial and ethnic disparities in pain management, and implementation of safe opioid prescribing on a hospital system level.

To supplement our education experience, we have a number of special initiatives including Arkansas Pain Symposium, Distinguished Lecture Series in Pain Medicine, hands-on cadaver lab training, and monthly community journal clubs, as well as weekly lecture series to cover core pain medicine topics. In addition, we lead an education series on professional development, financial health, networking, and society participation.

I am confident that you will find the educational opportunities that UAMS presents to be unique, rich, and fulfilling.  I feel that it is a great place to begin to grow a career, either in private practice, academics, or a mix of both.  Feel free to reach out to us if you have any specific questions. I look forward to meeting you soon.

Sincerely,

Jarna Shah, M.D.

Chronic Pain Medicine Fellowship Program Director
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology