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The 2019 UAMS Phenomenal Women on stage with their awards following the event.
UAMS Honors 36 for National Women’s History Month
| UAMS honored 36 phenomenal women from throughout the campus community at its annual National Women’s History Month celebration “Women of the World: Educating, Innovating, Serving.”
UAMS South Asian Students for Healthcare performing.
The event was sponsored by the Women’s History Planning Committee and the UAMS Center for Diversity Affairs and included a short program of featured speakers, entertainment by the UAMS South Asian Students for Healthcare, presentation of awards by Laura James, M.D., and Jan Shorey, M.D., and a lunch provided by RSVP Catering, a female-owned business, for all attendees.
“UAMS is filled with phenomenal women,” said UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, who noted that women make up over 70 percent of the UAMS workforce. “It is my pleasure to join all of you in celebrating some of these phenomenal women here today.”
Patterson thanked the honorees for their varied contributions to the mission of UAMS and noted that “it’s through your hard work that we, as the only academic medical center in Arkansas, are able to fulfill our mission for 3 million people here in the state who need us very much.”
Odette Woods, senior director of Diversity Affairs, who has chaired the planning committee behind the event for 10 years, joined the chancellor in celebrating the diversity represented by those nominated for and receiving an award.
Odette Woods welcoming attendees to the event.
“When we created the UAMS Phenomenal Woman program, we envisioned that these phenomenal women of various backgrounds, educational levels, socioeconomic levels, race, ethnicity, age, occupation, parental status, sexual orientation, abilities, religions and military status would represent diversity and inclusion at its best,” she said.
Keynote speaker Michelle B. Barnes, executive director and founder of the nonprofit Real Images, which uplifts women and young girls, spoke on the need to unite and work together despite the differences that might separate them.
“More often than not we hesitate to step out of our comfort zone and educate ourselves to love something or someone who is different from what we know,” she said. “I do honestly believe that if we listen to one another more than we try to convince one another, we will build better spaces for educating, innovating and serving our communities and families.”
The 2019 UAMS Phenomenal Women included:
Janet Beasley
Hospital Billing Training Specialist
Elisabet Borsheim, Ph.D.
Professor, Pediatrics, Developmental Nutrition Group
Cynthia J. Brown, RN
Service Line Nursing Director for MUS/Orthopaedics
Gwendolyn Bryant-Smith, M.D.
Director, Breast Imaging
Marcia Byers, Ph.D.
Director, Clinical Innovation and Research, UAMS Regional Campuses
Jean Chen, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Institutional Services, Division of Academic Affairs
Sandy “Alex” Cleveland, RN
Women and Infant Service Line
Denise Compton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Geriatrics
Linda Deloney, Ed.D.
Director, Graduate Medical Education, Department of Radiology
Andrea Easom, M.N.Sc., APRN
Clinical Instructor, Internal Medicine
Susan Erickson, RN, M.N.Sc.
Senior Nursing Recruiter
Pebbles Fagan, Ph.D.
Professor, Director, Center for the Study of Tobacco, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health
Amy Franks, Pharm.D.
Chair, Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy
Amy Gross
Director, Pre-Access Business Center
Melodee Harris, Ph.D., RN
Assistant Professor, College of Nursing
Tiffany Haynes, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health
Laura Hollenbach, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology Department
Summer Khairi, MBA
Nuclear Medicine Technologist
Suzanne Leslie
Director of Procurement
Erin M. Mannen, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopeadic Surgery
Lorraine McKelvey, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Family & Preventive Medicine
Sandra Meredith-Neve, B.S.N., RN
Integrated Medicine Service Line Nursing Director
Donna Middaugh, Ph.D., RN
Clinical Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Programs, College of Nursing
Barbara Nelson
Housekeeping
Nalin Payakachat, B.Pharm., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy
Melanie Reinhardt, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy
Gloria Richard-Davis, M.D.
Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology Department
Cherika Robertson, M.Ed.
Assistant Professor, College of Health Professions
Wendy Ross
Assistant Director of Programs, South Central Telehealth Resource Center
Suzanne Saccente, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics
Jo Smith, RN
Director of Special Projects
Lindsey Sward, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology Department
Leslie Taylor
Vice Chancellor for Communications & Marketing
Samidha Tripathi, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Jennifer Vincenzo, Ph.D., M.P.H., PT
Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Therapy
Theresa Wyrick-Glover M.D.
Vice Chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery