By Andrew Vogler 

Nov. 7, 2025 | LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine invested Tim Langford, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Urology in the College of Medicine, in the Steven K. Wilson Endowed Chair in Prosthetic Urology during an Oct. 28 ceremony.

“This is a tremendous honor for me, and I want to thank the many people who have supported me through my journey, especially my family,” said Lanford. “The opportunity to return to UAMS is an exciting endeavor — the work that is being done and will be done in the Department of Urology will empower UAMS and greatly serve the people of Arkansas.”

Langford practices general urology with an emphasis on prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia, male voiding dysfunction and robotic surgery.

“I want to congratulate Dr. Langford on this tremendous honor for which he is certainly deserving,” said C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., UAMS interim chancellor and professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation. “Further, he has been a force in advancing cutting-edge urological practices for the benefit of Arkansas and beyond. Tim, you should be very proud of what you have accomplished, and I’m happy to celebrate with you today.”

Endowed chairs are the highest honors of academic excellence that a university can bestow upon its faculty. A professorship is established with gifts of at least $500,000, which are invested and the interest proceeds used to support the educational, research and clinical activities of the chair holder. Those named to a chair or professorship are among the most highly regarded scientists, physicians and professors in their fields.

The chair was established in 2005 with a lead gift from Steven K. Wilson, M.D., FACS, and his wife Barbara Wilson. Additional philanthropic funds were donated by numerous individuals, corporations and foundations to advance the work of the chair. Wilson is a former UAMS professor of urology who devoted his professional career and clinical research to the medical and surgical treatment of erectile dysfunction and male incontinence. Wilson completed his undergraduate work with honors at Yale University and received his medical degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He served his urology residency at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Wilson currently serves as a urologist at the Institute for Urologic Excellence in La Quinta, California.

“Endowed chairs help us recruit and retain world-class educators, scientists and clinicians, and they support the vital work and vision of the faculty who hold them,” said Steven Webber, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine and UAMS executive vice chancellor. “We are delighted to celebrate the philanthropic spirit that made this chair possible, and we are pleased to honor Dr. Langford for his outstanding service and leadership.”

Langford received his Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and graduated from medical school at UAMS in 1988. Langford completed his urology residency at UAMS in 1993 and then joined Arkansas Urology, where he practiced for 28 years prior to returning to UAMS. While at Arkansas Urology, he served as president and medical director.

Since 2004, he has performed more than 2,500 robotic surgeries for prostate disease, kidney cancer and urinary reconstruction. Additionally, he has participated in clinical trials focusing on prostate cancer biomarkers and novel agents for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

In addition to his clinical and administrative roles, Langford has served in multiple leadership capacities. He has been deeply involved with the Arkansas Urological Society, serving as secretary, treasurer and president. He served as chief of staff of Baptist Health-Little Rock from 2014 to 2015. Langford has also been very engaged in the South Central Section of the American Urologic Association, serving as treasurer, program chairman and president. Langford has also been very involved in civic affairs. He has served on the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Pulaski Academy Board of Trustees, the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation Advisory Board and the Arkansas State University System Board of Trustees.

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 eight 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, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community 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 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven 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, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.

###

By Linda Satter 

Oct. 22, 2025 | LITTLE ROCK — Bradley Houston, M.D., a board-certified urologist, has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Department of Urology as an assistant professor.

Houston comes to UAMS from Arkansas Urology in Conway.

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Brad Houston join UAMS Urology,” said Tim Langford, M.D., director of the department. “Dr. Houston is a graduate of UAMS and brings a wide range of skills and knowledge to our department. His versatility will be valuable for our patients as he has expertise in kidney stone surgery, enlarged prostate (BPH), prostate cancer and robotic surgery.”

After earning his medical degree at UAMS in 2017, Houston completed a general surgery internship, followed by a urology residency, at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

Before medical school, Houston earned a Master of Public Health degree, also at UAMS, preceded by a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Houston is accepting new patients at the UAMS Urology Clinic in the Premier Medical Plaza building at 10915 Rodney Parham Road. Call 501-686-6324 to make an appointment.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 eight 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, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community 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 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven 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, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.

###

By Ben Boulden 

Oct. 3, 2025 | A clinical team including a urologist, physician assistant (PA) and medical student worked together to perform the first surgical procedure Sept. 25 at the UAMS 12^thStreet Health & Wellness Center.

Although the patient, Juan Campos, had some anxiety prior to the vasectomy, he expressed relief and satisfaction with the outcome.

Speaking through a Spanish-to-English translator — UAMS urologist Bruno Machado, M.D., who also led the care team — Campos said he felt no pain during the vasectomy and would recommend the procedure to any man who wants to have one. Machado also is an associate professor in the UAMS Department of Urology.

Ramsey Ghaleb, a fourth-year College of Medicine student, has served as men’s health director for the student board of the 12^th Street clinic for the last three years accompanied by Brian Rayburn, PA-C, who is part of the UAMS Department of Urology and serves as a preceptor at the clinic.

“Brian and I had been doing the free men’s health clinic nights for a couple of years and brainstorming ways to increase awareness when he approached me about offering vasectomies here,” Ghaleb said. “I was all for it and immediately started working on the logistics of the first surgical procedure to be done at 12^th Street.”

Because it was the first surgical procedure to be performed at the center, Ghaleb said it took about nine months to set up and receive approval to do it. The two met with Machado, who told them what supplies they would need, and Ghaleb in turn consulted with the student board, the center’s leadership and established the protocol. Rayburn earned the consent of the first patient to participate.

Located in Little Rock’s 12^th Street corridor just south of UAMS’ main campus, the 12^th Street Health & Wellness Center is a community-based, student-led, interprofessional clinic that provides free health screenings and health management services for people in the community. Physician- and faculty-supervised students from UAMS’ five colleges and graduate school staff the clinic.

Vasectomies are often performed as outpatient procedures in a clinical bed. Once Campos was in one of the private patient treatment rooms and a local anesthesia was administered, the vasectomy took about 30 minutes to perform.

Campos’ wife, who is diabetic and who with her husband has four children, was present during the operation. With Machado translating, Campos explained before the procedure that they do not want to have more children, and he wants to prevent his wife from getting sick from another pregnancy.

He also said he is concerned that a future baby could be diabetic as well. Before he left, the care team gave him a take-home semen analysis kit to confirm the vasectomy was completely successful.

The center provided the vasectomy for free, and Machado, Rayburn and Ghaleb would like to do more of the procedures in the future.

“I think we need to spread the word, so people know that UAMS is offering this service. It’s not only for Spanish-speaking people; anyone can come here and request a vasectomy,” Machado said. “There are some rules they have to follow, but that’s it. We are planning to perform one or two vasectomies per month to start, but we hope that can grow to one per week. The program’s success will depend on how the word gets out.”

Rayburn noted that the Department of Urology also aspires to create a vasectomy training program, where student providers can learn to perform the procedure so that after graduation they can offer it in rural areas where urological services are typically unavailable.

Dr. Brian Langford appeared on KATV to discuss men’s health, specifically prostate health. Watch the video:

Little Rock Doctor talks about National Men's Health Month

Prostate cancer risk varies depending on factors that may be in your control, but also factors that aren’t.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Services Urologist Dr. Marcelo Bigarella stopped by Little Rock Arc to provide general steps for individuals to take in decreasing prostate cancer risk.

Watch the story on the KATV website.

By Marty Trieschmann 

Fellowship-trained urologic oncologist Marcelo Bigarella, M.D., has joined the Division of Urology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, where he specializes in the diagnosis and management of urologic cancers, such as prostate, kidney, testicular, bladder, penile and adrenal cancer.

Bigarella joined UAMS after completing a fellowship in urologic oncology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, one of only 40 fellowship programs in the U.S. accredited by the Society of Urologic Oncology. He has advanced expertise in open, laparoscopic and robotic surgery and is certified in DaVinci Intuitive Robotic Surgery.

“Dr. Bigarella’s passion for patient care along with his expertise in cutting-edge treatments for urological cancer will greatly benefit our patients at UAMS,” said Tim Langford, M.D., chief of the Department of Urology in the UAMS College of Medicine. “I am delighted to welcome Dr. Bigarella to our team, as he will be a tremendous asset in elevating all aspects of our mission.”

Bigarella also serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Urology in the UAMS College of Medicine. He is accepting new patients; please call 501- 296-1200 for an appointment.

Bigarella earned his medical degree from the University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Sao Paulo, Brazil, during which he completed a one-year research exchange at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He completed a general surgery residency, followed by urology and kidney transplant residencies at the University of Sao Paulo, where he had international rotations at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York and the University of Vienna in Austria. He completed an additional one-year fellowship in robotic urologic surgery at the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Bigarella’s research in next-generation imaging for prostate cancer won him a Best Poster Award at the 2024 American Urological Association Meeting. In 2023, he was invited to attend the Prostate Cancer Foundation meeting at the University of California in Los Angeles as a thought leader of the future. He has presented his research and given lectures in the most important urological meetings.

By Yavonda Chase 

Aug. 2, 2023 | LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine invested Julie M. Riley, M.D., FACS, in the Hal Reed Black, M.D., Chair in Urology during a July 25 ceremony.

Riley, who joined UAMS in 2021, serves a professor and vice chair in the UAMS Department of Urology. She is also the quality director for surgical services and the director of the Urology Residency Program.

“In 2021, I was recruited to UAMS by Dr. Langford, who I want to thank for showing great faith in my abilities,” said Riley. “I also want to thank everyone who came to support me today — it means a great deal to see so many people who have contributed to my success so far.”

An endowed chair is established with gifts of at least $1 million, which are invested and the interest proceeds used to support the educational, research and clinical activities of the chair holder.

“An endowed chair is the highest honor that we can bestow on our faculty members and those named to a chair are among the most highly regarded scientists, practitioners and professors in their academic fields,” said Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, UAMS chancellor and CEO of UAMS Health. “I want to thank Julie Riley for coming to UAMS and being part of a revitalized urology program.”

The Hal Reed Black, M.D., Professorship in Urology was established in 1995, in honor of Hal Reed Black Jr., M.D., of Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1950, he received his medical degree from UAMS, and after completing his residency in urology, entered private practice in Little Rock. With Black’s passing in 1990, there was an outpouring of donations from colleagues, friends and former patients to establish the professorship, which would be endowed with a generous gift by Juanita Winn, Black’s sister, and James Winn. The professorship, which remained unfilled, became an endowed chair through funds contributed by the Department of Urology.

“Endowed chairs help us to improve our programs that serve Arkansas year in and year out, which is especially important when other resources are limited,” said G. Richard Smith, M.D., a distinguished professor of psychiatry, and the interim dean of the College of Medicine and UAMS executive vice chancellor. “It is really an honor today to celebrate the generosity and philanthropic spirit that made the Hal Reed Black, M.D., Chair in Urology possible.”

Prior to joining UAMS, Riley worked at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque, where she was the executive surgeon leader of surgical services, overseeing operations of four surgical sites. While at UNM, she also served as the urology clinic director and urology research director.

Riley received her medical degree from St. Louis University of Medicine. She completed a six-year residency at the University of Missouri-Columbia in urology. She then completed a fellowship in laparoscopy, robotics and endourology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Riley’s clinical passion is in management of kidney stones, both medical and surgical. She is also an expert in ureteral reconstruction, renal surgery and renal transplantation. She is currently completing her master’s degree in business administration in health care leadership at the University of Texas at Dallas through the prestigious Alliance for Physician Leaders Program.

Riley is heavily involved in both regional and national urologic associations. She is the secretary of the South Central Section of the American Urologic Association (AUA), the first woman to serve in that role. She also completed the AUA Leadership Program, receiving a top award in 2019. She has received several resident teaching roles and accolades for medical student teaching, most recently the UAMS Red Sash Award in 2023.

“Dr. Riley has been invaluable to me and our program, and she is one of the finest clinicians that I have ever worked with, bringing world-class care in medical and surgical management,” said Timothy Langford, M.D., chair of the Department of Urology in the UAMS College of Medicine. “She is a fearless and technically proficient surgeon, and as our residency program director, she had been a phenomenal teacher and mentor to our residents, students and faculty, including me. I am a better urologist because of Dr. Riley.”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.

###

Dr. Julie Riley was featured in a report about a kidney stone procedure at UAMS that has proven to be a game changer for her patients.

Watch the video at the KARK website.

Timothy Langford, M.D., a Little Rock urologic surgeon with nearly three decades of experience, has been appointed chair of the Department of Urology in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), effective Oct. 3.

Langford succeeds current Chair Rodney Davis, M.D., who is retiring after serving in the post since 2012.

“Dr. Langford is a highly regarded urologic surgeon and leader in the field in Arkansas and regionally,” said Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine. “He brings superb experience in urologic surgery and clinical leadership to UAMS.”

Langford has practiced throughout his 28-year career at Arkansas Urology, P.A., where he served as president from 2011 to January of this year.

A 1988 graduate of the UAMS College of Medicine, Langford stayed at UAMS for his general surgery internship and residency training in general surgery followed by his urology residency. He served as chief resident in urology before joining Arkansas Urology in 1993. In addition to his leadership of Arkansas Urology, he was chief of staff at Baptist Health-Little Rock in 2014-2015. Langford is certified by the American Board of Urology and is active in national and regional professional organizations including the American Urologic Association, the American Association of Clinical Urologists and the Arkansas Urological Society, for which he served as president in 2002. He also has held leadership roles in the South Central Section of the American Urological Association (SCA/AUA) including a term as president in 2018.