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J. Paul Mounsey, BM BCh, Ph.D., FACC, with members of the Kirkpatrick family and Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA. Image by Evan Lewis

UAMS Invests J. Paul Mounsey, BM BCh, Ph.D., in Don and Carolyn Kirkpatrick Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine

July 22, 2022 | LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine invested J. Paul Mounsey, BM BCh, Ph.D., FACC, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and leader of cardiovascular clinical services, in the Don and Carolyn Kirkpatrick Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine during a July 19 ceremony.

“The Kirkpatrick family have given a great honor to the university and a great personal honor to me but most importantly a great honor to cardiovascular medicine and surgery at UAMS,” said Mounsey. “Knowing that there are endowments available is an advantage in attracting the top-class people we need to give Arkansans the cardiovascular care that they deserve.”

Mounsey is a nationally recognized expert in the management of complex heart rhythm disturbances and has lectured and published widely on many aspects of the care of heart rhythm disturbances in patients with severe heart disease. Under his guidance, cardiovascular services at UAMS have expanded rapidly with the goal of eventually providing fully comprehensive cardiovascular care including heart and lung transplants.

“Dr. Mounsey was brought to UAMS in 2019 to rebuild the cardiology division, one I might say was on the verge of heart failure,” said Stephen A. “Steppe” Mette, M.D., senior vice chancellor of UAMS Health. “He knew what to do, with the confidence, clarity and certainty so characteristic of cardiologists, and was successful in getting the division off life support — infusing it with new blood, new talent and reinforcing the structural pillars of program building.”

The Kirkpatrick family made a $1 million gift in January 2022 to establish the chair with the hope that it would help advance the world-class cardiology care available at UAMS. Carolyn Kirkpatrick and her late husband, Don, have been dedicated supporters and leaders in the UAMS community and have enjoyed a close relationship with both physicians and volunteers.

An endowed chair is among the highest academic honors a university can bestow on a faculty member. A 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. Those named to a chair are among the most highly regarded scientists, physicians and professors in their fields.

“I want to thank the Kirkpatrick family for their commitment to UAMS and for the confidence they have shown for the work of Dr. Mounsey,” said Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, UAMS chancellor and CEO of UAMS Health. “I’m proud to consider myself a colleague of Paul, and I have every confidence in the world that he will continue to do great things.”

“Endowed chairs provide vital resources to enhance all of our mission areas in the College of Medicine and UAMS,” said Susan S. Smyth, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the College of Medicine. “The Kirkpatrick family’s gift to establish this chair is exceptionally timely as UAMS expands cardiovascular services for Arkansans under Dr. Mounsey’s leadership.”

Mounsey received his doctorate in physiology, with an emphasis in cardiac muscle biophysics, from GKT School of Medical Education, St Thomas’ Hospital, in London. He received his medical degree from Oxford University Medical School in Oxford, England. After his residency at Oxford, he completed a cardiology fellowship at the University of Newcastle School of Medicine in Newcastle, England, and a cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Mounsey served as a member of the cardiology faculty at UVA from 1996 to 2007. He later accepted a position at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill,

North Carolina, where he was a professor of medicine and director of cardiac electrophysiology and pacing. Serving in the same role, he joined the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the East Carolina Heart Institute at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

In addition to publishing extensively, Mounsey has served on the editorial boards of Heart Rhythm, the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology and the Journal of

Electrocardiography. He has also been an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals, including Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Mounsey is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiologists and the American Heart Association. While at UVA, he received the Department of Internal Medicine Clinical Excellence Award and the Dean’s Award for Clinical Excellence, both in 2001. In 2008, he received the Leonard S. Gettes Faculty Teaching Award in the UNC Division of Cardiology.

“Paul certainly has the determination and will to tackle whatever comes his way,” said Edward T.H. Yeh, M.D., FACC, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine in the College of Medicine. “I think it very fitting for him to hold this chair and lead cardiovascular services at UAMS to a much higher level.”

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.

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