All UAMS fellowship programs based at Arkansas Children’s Hospital met for the annual Fellow’s Research Day on May 18th. The UAMS Pediatric Hematology–Oncology section hosted this year’s event. This year’s guest Fellows Day visiting professor was Ashish R. Kumar, M.D., Ph.D. from Cincinnati Children’s. Dr. Kumar is a recognized international expert in treating children and adults with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) and Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH).
All the participating Fellows did an outstanding job highlighting their research via oral or poster presentation. Winners were selected for best overall oral presentation, best poster presentation, and best abstract. The UAMS Neonatology section was well represented, with Sarah Diamond, M.D., winning best abstract and best poster, and Ashton Walters, M.D., winning best oral presentation. Second place awards for abstract, poster and oral presentation went to Andrew Tran, M.D., from UAMS Pediatric Hematology – Oncology, Nayana Prabhu, M.D., from Child Neurology, and Adam Price, M.D., from Allergy/Immunology respectively.
Annual awards were given during the awards banquet held at the downtown Marriott. The annual Fellow Educator of the Year Award winner was Tucker Blackledge, M.D., Hematology-Oncology, voted on by the pediatric housestaff. The Sam Smith Fellow of the Year Award winner was nominated by the Program Directors. The Sam Smith Fellow of the Year winner was Jeffrey Dorrity, M.D., Otolaryngology. His nomination was as follows:
“Hands down, he continually goes above and beyond to work with families to understand their goals and develop a cohesive plan. He communicates with the teams and families consistently, which allows for the medical and surgical teams to work well together and minimizes confusion for our families. He willingly comes in at all hours to assess patients without any complaints and maintains a positive attitude throughout. He is an example of how medical and surgical teams should work together for the overarching benefit of the patient and family!”
The graduating fellows were gifted with a textbook of their choosing. Congratulations to all the Fellows for work well done.