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CHP 2024 Faculty Excellence Awards

Dec. 9, 2024 | The College of Health Professions recently recognized three exceptional faculty members with awards.

Audra Wilson, MS, PA-C, assistant professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, is the recipient of this year’s Excellence in Teaching Award, which recognizes an educator who has exemplified the mission of UAMS and the college by educating future and current health professionals and the public.

While also serving as a department faculty member, Wilson is the program’s Director of Didactic Education and the UAMS 12^th Street Health & Wellness Center’s assistant medical director.

Director of the 12^th Street Center and an associate professor in the department, Melissa Halverson, Pharm.D., MPH, wrote that Wilson “works tirelessly by collaborating with faculty in the department and all over campus to organize and oversee the didactic phase of the PA Program. She consistently ensures the curriculum is up-to-date, innovative, and effectively delivered. She is also a passionate advocate for her students, making sure they have every resource they need to be successful.”

Halverson stated that Wilson brings the same commitment to her work at the 12^th Street Center, devoting extra time to its mission beyond what is expected.

“When working with patients and students, she has a patient and compassionate demeanor that helps them feel safe and cared for,” Halverson wrote. “I have been involved at the clinic for over ten years and she has an impact not many other preceptors have had.”

Bridget Fitzhugh, MS, RDH, assistant professor in the college’s Department of Dental Hygiene, is the recipient of this year’s Excellence in Service Award, which recognizes an educator whose significant contributions through service are instrumental in achieving the UAMS mission.

Fitzhugh oversees the operation of the UAMS Dental Hygiene Clinic, which now handles about 4,000 patient appointments annually, marking a significant increase of 1,700 appointments before she became coordinator. During the past three years, she has been instrumental in numerous community events at the clinic. Due to her efforts, more than 500 children and adolescents have received preventive dental hygiene services.

She serves the dental hygiene profession on national and local levels. Fitzhugh has had leadership roles in several organizations including as president of the Arkansas Dental Hygienists’ Association, a director with the Arkansas Oral Health Coalition and Arkansas delegate to the American Dental Hygienists’ Association.

Claire Tucker, Ed.D., RDH, wrote in support of her nomination: “Her unwavering dedication to advancing the field of dental hygiene and shaping the next generation of dental hygienists is indispensable to our program. Her exceptional contributions make her a deserving recipient of the award.”

Lisa Jansen, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college’s Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, is the recipient of the 2024 Excellence in Scholarship Award, which recognizes junior faculty at the rank of assistant professor who have demonstrated great potential in scholarship by virtue of the exceptional quality of their contributions.

Shortly after joining UAMS in 2022, Jansen received a pilot grant of $75,000 from the National Institutes of Health to fund her research Glycemic patterns during gestation: CGM as a proxy measure of the intrauterine environment. In 2023, Jansen became the associate director of the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.  Jansen is now continuing her research with continuous glucose monitoring during gestation through another the NIH-funded grant, this one for $392,379.

She mentors Master of Science in Dietetics Internship students in doing their capstone projects and Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition students on their thesis and non-thesis research projects. Jansen has thus far directly mentored nine students within these programs as their major advisor. Additionally, Jansen shares a great deal of her time assisting other faculty in the department