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Graduate School dean Robert E. McGehee, Jr., Ph.D. opens the reception. Image by Bryan Clifton

UAMS Graduate School Spring Reception Highlights Faculty, Staff, Students

By Nathan Tidwell

| The Graduate School at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) held its Spring Awards Reception on April 20 and celebrated faculty, staff and students for their achievements.

It was the final awards reception for Robert E. McGehee, Jr., Ph.D., dean of the UAMS Graduate School, who is retiring May 20, the day of UAMS’ commencement.

“This Spring Reception kicks off what I call commencement season,” McGehee said from Biomedical Research Center I’s Helen Guinn Adams Atrium. “We have lots of things going on between now and commencement. We have 30-plus Ph.D. students and 12 to 15 master’s degree students. For a lot of these students, this is something they’ve dreamed of and worked on for decades.”

Lee Ann MacMillan-Crow, Ph.D., was named Graduate Faculty of the Year for 2022-2023. MacMillan-Crow, a professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology  who came to UAMS in 2003, is also scheduled to retire in May.

“I am deeply honored to receive the Graduate Faculty of the Year Award,” MacMillan-Crow said. “Over the past 20 years I have thoroughly enjoyed mentoring, recruiting, counseling and motivating our graduate students to keep striving to be their very best.”

“Lee Ann has always been engaged with the graduate program,” said McGehee. “It’s amazing what she’s been able to do.”

Mason McCrury and Samantha Kendrick.

Mason McCrury presents Samantha Kendrick, Ph.D., with her Outstanding Mentor award.Image by Allyson Douglas

Mason McCrury and Soumiya Pal received Outstanding Achievement Awards. McCrury was recognized for his three-year Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation for 2023-2026. Pal was honored for receiving a 2023 American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship.

Samantha Kendrick, Ph.D., a College of Medicine professor who has been at UAMS since 2017, was selected as the Outstanding Mentor for her work with McCrury in receiving his fellowship.

“I feel really privileged to be recognized for being an outstanding mentor. One of the reasons why I chose academia above anything else is to be able to mentor and pay it forward,” Kendrick said.

Earlier this year, McCrury also earned a $50 award for a second-place tie in the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Cancer Poster Project, and Pal earned second place in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Finals on UAMS Student Research Day.

“I’m very thankful — it’s an honor,” said McCrury. “I have to thank my mentor, Dr. Kendrick, she’s helped me a lot. I’m very excited.”

“It’s a great recognition from the graduate school,” Pal said. “We work hard. I’m fortunate to be a part of UAMS.”

Crystin Mullins, an education program manager, received the 2022-2023 Administrative Appreciation Award for her support of the College of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Informatics.

McGehee and Morris

Carol Morris with her achievement award.Image by Bryan Clifton

“I am grateful to work with such a wide variety of individuals both in personality and skill sets. I’m constantly learning something new from each of them and am happy to be able to support them along the way,” said Mullins, who has been at UAMS since 2018.

Achievement Awards went to Aric Anloague for first place in the Poster Presentation on Student Research Day; Carol Morris for first place in the 3MT Finals on Student Research Day; and Ashley Pike, who received a National Institute of Health two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship from the UAMS Translational Research Institute.

Additional student achievements:

  • Naiha Ahmad (travel award to the 2023 American Society of Virology in Athens, Georgia)
  • Kalee Holloway (volunteer judge at the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair)
  • Jessica Kelliher (first place Bhuvan Award for Biochemistry Poster at Student Research Day)
  • Ruchira Mahashabde (3MT finalist)
  • Hayley Sabol (Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute $100 award for first place in Cancer Poster Project at Student Research Day)
  • Heba Sadaka (Arkansas Nurses Foundation Scholarship)
  • Reham Sewilam (Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute $1,500 award to attend the Midwest DNA Repair Symposium in Iowa City, Iowa)
  • Farhana Taher Sumya (second place Bhuvan Award for Biochemistry Poster at Student Research Day)
  • Matthew Thompson (second place tie and $50 award in the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Cancer Poster Project)
  • Kirk West (Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute $50 award for first place in Cancer Poster Project for Postdoctoral Fellows at Student Research Day)

The 2023 Spring Mentor awards went to faculty members who mentored graduate students during the 2022-2023 school year. McGehee added: “If you’re willing to spend about $120,000, three years of your time, cry together, laugh together and occasionally rally together, you too can get one of these plaques.”

The Spring Mentor awardees were:

  • Antiño Allen, Ph.D., for mentoring Christa Corley, Ph.D., and Madison Trujillo, Ph.D.
  • Lee Archer, Ph.D., for mentoring Ashley Pike, Ph.D.
  • Karl Boehme, Ph.D., for mentoring Michael Eledge, Ph.D.
  • Clare Brown, Ph.D., for mentoring Jon Wilkerson, Ph.D.
  • Carol Cornell, Ph.D., for mentoring Samjhana Shakya, Ph.D.
  • Paul Drew, Ph.D., for mentoring Kalee Holloway, Ph.D., and Ashley Pike, Ph.D.
    Dr. Latrina Prince

    Latrina Prince, Ed.D., shows off a Graduate School 20th Anniversary shirt.Image by Bryan Clifton

  • Anthony Goudie, Ph.D., for mentoring Taiwo Peter Adesoba, Ph.D.
  • Tiffany Haynes, Ph.D., for mentoring LaToya Jade Nichole Blanks, Ph.D.
  • Andrew James, Ph.D., for mentoring Ashley Pike, Ph.D.
  • Se-Ran Jun, Ph.D., for mentoring Kaleb Abram, Ph.D.
  • Chenghui Li, Ph.D., for mentoring Ruchira Mahashabde, Ph.D., and Ambrish Pandit, Ph.D.
  • Isabelle Miousse, Ph.D., for mentoring Lauren Clai Morehead, Ph.D.
  • Brooke Montgomery, Ph.D., for mentoring Samjhana Shakya, Ph.D.
  • Wendy Nembhard, Ph.D., for mentoring Emine Bircan, Ph.D.
  • Roger Pechous, Ph.D., for mentoring Hayley Theriot, Ph.D.
  • Latrina Prince, Ed.D., for mentoring LaToya Jade Nichole Blanks, Ph.D.
  • Fred Prior, Ph.D., for mentoring Saly Abouelenein, Ph.D.
  • James Selig, Ph.D., for mentoring LaToya Jade Nichole Blanks, Ph.D.
  • Kevin Sexton, M.D., for mentoring Saly Abouelenein, Ph.D.
  • Taren Swindle, Ph.D., for mentoring Samjhana Shakya, Ph.D.
  • Alan Tackett, Ph.D., for mentoring Lauren Clai Morehead, Ph.D.