Dr. Bellido was invited to say a few words honoring the life and work of the Dean of the College of Medicine, Dr. Susan Smyth who passed away last December.
Below is the transcript of the speech:
I am thankful for the opportunity to provide testimony of the impact that Dr. Susan Smyth had on research at UAMS.
I had the privilege to become close to her during her tenure as Dean of the College of Medicine. I had been back at UAMS for 1 year when she joined in July 2021 and, since the very beginning, our meetings were honest, productive, and much more than transactional.
She was personable, and, although we were very different, we had few things in common. We both had raised boys (young men now); and she was, as I am, primary care giver of her mother (Susan’s 90-year-old and my mom who will turn 96 tomorrow). And, professionally, we had in common our passion for basic and translational research in the frame of a college of medicine.
Susan Smyth, a translational researcher herself, was an effective leader and she was committed to increase excellence in research at UAMS.
I will only mention a couple of concrete initiatives that she sponsored in the short 1 ½-year period that she was with us, and that made a mark in research.
- Susan created the Research Creative Hubs that support collaborative research in key signature areas of excellence, with the goal of increasing UAMS recognition at the national and international levels.
- Susan payed close attention to the input of basic science chairs, to learn about the problems as well as the potential solutions, and then she acted effectively to get things done.
- She supported equality in faculty compensation to increase recruitment and assure retention of UAMS researchers, thus allowing UAMS to fairly compete with institutions from neighboring states.
- She also acknowledged the crucial role of administrative support and initiated plans to improve the infrastructure required to grow research at UAMS. Among these initiatives are streamlining procurement and travel, reorganizing the processes of pre- and post-award support and grant accounting, and facilitating the contracts and material transfer agreements (MTAs) to assure that UAMS researchers have similar access to technological advances compared to other US institutions.
Importantly, all these initiatives are aligned with the 2029 UAMS vision.
One of her preferred quotes was “The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you’re the pilot”. Without doubt, Susan piloted efficiently several initiatives to make research stronger at UAMS and it is now our responsibility to follow this path.
Thank you, Teresita Bellido