Scholarship Ceremony Honors Memory of Blytheville Doctor
| LITTLE ROCK – In a ceremony today that honored the memory of the late John Williams, M.D., of Blytheville, the two co-chief residents at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Northeast in Jonesboro received $500 scholarships to help defray future education costs.
Williams was a chief resident at AHEC Northeast in 1990. After Williams died a year ago, friends and colleagues created the chief resident scholarship fund in his name.
“John’s compassion and dedication to his patients were his hallmarks,” said Scott Dickson, M.D., residency director at AHEC Northeast. “He lived a robust life filled with friends along with his commitment to quality health care in his hometown. These are the examples we want future generations of family physicians to follow.”
Chief residents are selected by their peers and take on leadership and administrative duties on behalf of their fellow residents. Thad Hardin, M.D., and Leslie McGrath, M.D., are this year’s co-chief residents at AHEC Northeast, which has 19 residents total.
Plans are to award $1,000 to the chief resident each year in perpetuity, said Ron Cole, director of AHEC Northeast.
AHEC Northeast is an outreach program of UAMS that has graduated 133 family physicians since 1983. The majority of the graduates of the family medicine residency program have remained in Northeast Arkansas to practice their specialty.
Anyone who would like to contribute to the scholarship fund can send a check to: The Dr. John Williams Fund / U of A Foundation; 223 E. Jackson; Jonesboro, AR 72401
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a new 540,000-square-foot hospital, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,652 students and 733 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.