March 12, 2010 | Stacy Rudnicki, M.D., a champion at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in the fight against ALS and related diseases, was honored recently with a professorship dedicated to that cause.

Rudnicki began caring for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) soon after arriving in Little Rock in 1992. Her efforts evolved into the UAMS ALS multidisciplinary clinic, which she directs, becoming a Muscular Dystrophy Association-certified ALS clinic in 2004.

In front of a large gathering of family, friends and colleagues attending the March 3 ceremony, Rudnicki, professor of neurology in the UAMS College of Medicine, was invested with the inaugural Kathryn and J. Thomas May Professorship in Neurology/ALS.

Speaking at the event were Dan Rahn, M.D., UAMS Chancellor; Debra H. Fiser, M.D., dean of the UAMS College of Medicine; J. Thomas May, chairman and CEO of Simmons First National Bank; David Chad, M.D., professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School; Sami I. Harik, M.D., chairman of the UAMS Department of Neurology; and Rudnicki.

“The establishment of this professorship, through the generosity of colleagues and friends of J. Thomas and Kathryn May, ensures that UAMS will continue
to remain on the forefront in clinical care of Arkansans with ALS and related diseases,” Rudnicki said. “I’m honored to have accepted this in front of so many cherished friends, family and colleagues.”

Rudnicki attended the University of Notre Dame and earned a B.S. degree in Preprofessional Studies in 1978. She graduated from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in 1982 followed by an internal medicine internship and neurology residency at the University of Massachusetts. She served as Chief Resident in Neurology there in 1986. Rudnicki completed a fellowship in Neuromuscular Disease and Electromyography at the University of Maryland in 1987, and served there as assistant professor of neurology until 1988.

She moved on to private practice in Fairfax, Va., until moving to Little Rock to marry her husband, Jess Nickols Jr., M.D., and joining UAMS faculty in April 1992. She was promoted to associate professor in 1997 and professor in 2008, becoming the first female professor of neurology in the history of the department.

Rudnicki has been actively involved in teaching and was part of the first group
of faculty who participated in the Teaching Scholar Program. She has received teaching awards from the medical students, and she has served as the Visiting Professor of Neurology Education at the Mayo Clinic. She serves on the UAMS Scholarship Committee and the Promotion and Tenure Committee.

She has served on the American Academy of Neurology Graduate Education
Subcommittee, as councilor for the Neuromuscular Section of the American Academy of Neurology, and on the Legislative Affairs Committee. She serves on the American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Essay Award Subcommittee and the Government Relations Committee. She participated in the Academy’s Donald Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum in 2005 and served as a mentor in 2006. She recently completed a term on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee and continues to serve as an FDA advisor.

Rudnicki has worked with local churches and participated in numerous medical trips to Honduras. She has advocated for ALS patients in Washington, D.C., as part of the ALS Association Advocacy Day. She received the Paul Dunn Purpose Award for her dedication to Arkansans with ALS. She is a member of the board, serving as treasurer, of the Dooley Society, an organization of alumni of the University of Notre Dame involved in medicine.

J. Thomas May serves on the University of Arkansas Board of Advisors; the University of Arkansas Walton School of Business Dean’s Advisory Board; and was previously chairman of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees.

Kathryn May spent 22 years teaching first grade and alongside her husband raises awareness about ALS/Lou Gehrig’s disease.