UAMS Orthopaedic Surgeon Bumpass Among Nation’s Top Young Spine Professionals for 2018
| LITTLE ROCK — David Bumpass, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), was named one of the nation’s outstanding young spine care providers by the North American Spine Society’s SpineLine magazine in its inaugural “20 Under 40” list honoring spine professionals under the age of 40.
Bumpass, 37, is featured in the September/October 2018 issue. The list, selected by the magazine’s review team, included 21 members following a tie in application scoring.
“Dr. Bumpass is an outstanding member of our department,” said C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine. “He excels in the clinic and operating room and in both basic and clinical research, as well as in educating and mentoring students and residents. He is already a clinical leader and was recently named co-director of the spine clinical services. We are fortunate to have him as our partner, and our state is lucky to have him here.”
Bumpass and the 20 others spotlighted this year were recognized throughout the society’s 33rd Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, Sept. 26-29 with a poster at the magazine’s booth and several tweets throughout the week. More than 3,000 spine professionals from the organization’s 8,000-plus members attended.
In addition to treating adult and pediatric patients, he serves as director of clinical research for the Orthopaedic Surgery Department.
Bumpass also collaborates with local emergency medical services in Little Rock to improve their emergency spine trauma care in the field. The joint effort has strengthened the relationship between physicians and local EMS crews and educated first responders on how physicians treat spinal injuries after patients arrive at the hospital.
“I have been able to learn more about questions and challenges the paramedics face in the field when managing spine trauma,” he said in his “20 Under 40” feature in the magazine. “Our hospital system has worked hard to streamline and improve protocols for spinal trauma management once patients hit the door, identifying delays and improving multi-team care.”
Bumpass was earlier recognized by the society in 2014 with its Young Investigator Translational Research grant for “The Role of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells and T-Lymphocytes in Human Vertebral Metastasis: A Prospective Pilot Study.”
“That enabled me to complete some exciting research in the role of the immune system in facilitating spinal metastasis,” Bumpass said. The $50,000 grant went toward research that is nearly complete.
“The results suggest that there is an under-appreciated role that the immune system plays in allowing the development of metastatic cancer in bone,” Bumpass said, adding that healthy immune cells within the bone seem to be inhibited from preventing cancerous cells from spreading into the bone.
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 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 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.###