The Year in Review, 2024: UAMS Hits High Marks in Patient Care, Education, Research
| If a united Team UAMS was instead a collection of “Teams UAMS” — three groups in patient care, education and research competing against each other — then 2024 would have been a close contest with high scores on every side.
Several positive developments occurred in the areas of maternal, infant and child health. The research community collectively amassed a substantial pile of new grant awards, and the colleges and educational programs gathered an armful of awards and accolades.
PATIENT CARE
September was notable for the cluster of news and announcements at UAMS regarding infant and child health. That month, UAMS received a $5 million Congressional appropriation to coordinate efforts across the state to reduce infant mortality. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Arkansas is third on the list of states with the highest infant mortality rates.
Working toward a related goal in infant and child health, UAMS researcher Taren Massey-Swindle, Ph.D., and a Louisiana Tech University collaborator in September secured a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to address feeding practices at 80 early childhood care and education sites in Arkansas and Louisiana.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $2.4 million grant to a collaborative effort led by Stefanie Kennon-McGill, Ph.D., to test prevention strategies for reducing high rates of maternal and infant deaths in the Arkansas Delta. It will fund a combination of education, training, outreach and preventive health services focusing on Helena-West Helena, Lake Village and Pine Bluff.
Laura Hays, Ph.D., APRN, associate professor in the UAMS College of Nursing, racked up the third win in September and received a four-year, $1.4 million federal grant to expand and enhance the Arkansas Department of Health’s Newborn Screening Program.
The university continued to make strides in addressing another ongoing health crisis with substance use disorders. At the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute and in conjunction with Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the Six Bridges Clinic was established in March to serve as a transition for the numerous young people in Arkansas dealing with substance use disorders. The rates of substance use in Arkansas youth are highly concerning, especially for alcohol (12%) and marijuana (14%), which are higher than the national average.
Recognizing the barrier that daily visits can pose to treating patients with opioid addiction, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Center for Addiction Services and Treatment is rolling out a hybrid care program designed to better meet the needs of its patients and improve their chances of overcoming their dependence on opioids. Working with Sonara Health, CAST allows eligible patients the opportunity to record videos of themselves taking their medication, reducing the burden of daily visits to the center.
UAMS also in June became the first medical facility in the United States to provide an innovative therapeutic treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) using neuromodulation.
The university in July received a five-year, $5 million federal grant to support the UAMS Arkansas Geriatric Education Collaborative in its mission to improve the quality of care for older adults.
In March, the university increased its presence in patient care with the grand opening of a new UAMS Health Family Medical Center in El Dorado.
Two major milestone achievements were reached in the UAMS Medical Center. In May, it earned an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit that awards letter grades to general hospitals around the country.
The medical center more recently was awarded the highest international recognition for excellence in nursing from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), achieving designation as a Magnet® hospital after several years of hard work by nursing leadership and others.
And, U.S. News & World Report this summer named the UAMS Medical Center as a 2024-2025 Best Hospital and as an inaugural “Best Regional Hospital for Equitable Access” in a new category.
In October, the MDS Foundation designated the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute as a Center of Excellence, making it the only center in Arkansas to become part of the foundation’s referral network of the top bone marrow disorder treatment centers in the world.
EDUCATION
U.S. News & World Report didn’t ignore the university’s education mission when piling on the plaudits. The magazine ranked the UAMS College of Nursing among the nation’s 100 best undergraduate nursing programs, while the College of Medicine ranked fourth nationally for primary care education, ninth for most graduates practicing in health professional shortage areas and 11th for graduates practicing in rural areas. In its annual list of the Best Graduate Schools for 2024, U.S. News also highly ranked the colleges of Pharmacy, Nursing, Public Health and Health Professions among their peers nationwide.
Ryan Cork, MSHA, joined UAMS on Sept. 1 to serve as the next vice chancellor for the Northwest Arkansas Region.
UAMS in February was awarded more than $1.8 million to continue its Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) program through 2028. Created in 2009 through a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, IMSD’s goal is to increase the number of doctoral graduates from underrepresented groups through a wide-ranging mentoring and training program.
The university on May 18 conferred degrees and certificates to 1,134 students in its five colleges and graduate school, making it the last university-wide commencement ceremony. As UAMS’ student population continues to grow, the sheer number of graduates was making the event increasingly challenging logistically. The change is a sign of how much the university has grown both in its educational mission and enrollment as well as how much it expects to continue to grow. Each college and the graduate school will now hold their own graduation ceremonies going forward.
RESEARCH
The UAMS Translational Research Institute announced in July that it would receive $31.7 million from the National Institutes of Health to continue its role in a national effort to accelerate discoveries for the toughest health challenges facing Arkansans and people across the United States.
The UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute in March received a five-year, $11.48 million federal grant to create the Center for Molecular Interactions in Cancer (CMIC).
As the calendar advanced in 2024, the list of research grants awarded to UAMS researchers grew longer: $2.2 million for a five-year study of how modulating the body’s immune response may potentially benefit patients with certain eye diseases; $3.7 million for researching and developing a more effective tuberculosis (TB) vaccine; $3.6 million for examining the critical knowledge gap in cefiderocol resistance; $1.9 million to develop a wearable device that will assist with the early detection and monitoring of internal and external bleeding; $2.27 million to answer key questions about the cellular mechanisms used by estrogen to prevent bone loss and osteoporosis; $3.7 million to study the role of immune cells on hypertension; $1.64 million to examine the fundamental molecular mechanisms of liver repair; and five grants totaling $4.6 million to researchers at the Cancer Institute for studies looking at several aspects of cancer from melanoma resistance to immunotherapy for ovarian cancer.
Two groups of UAMS researchers made important discoveries related to Alzheimer’s disease. A potential new drug to prevent Alzheimer’s disease in people with the so-called Alzheimer’s gene was discovered by a UAMS research team led by Sue Griffin, Ph.D.. In August, UAMS researchers reported that they had discovered that an FDA-approved cholesterol drug holds the potential to disrupt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
The university in July named Dan Voth, Ph.D., as vice chancellor for Research & Innovation. As vice chancellor, Voth will be responsible for defining the strategy and vision for research and seeking to enhance research activities across all UAMS colleges.
UAMS announced the establishment March 1 of its eighth institute, the UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation, and its first one based in Northwest Arkansas. The institute will work with communities across Arkansas to conduct community-based research and deploy community-driven programs to improve health outcomes in rural and medically underserved regions of the state.
Early in 2024, UAMS met its $30 million fundraising goal for the Cancer Institute’s campaign to achieve National Cancer Institute (NCI) Designation.
Not all the noteworthy achievements and events of 2024 fall neatly into one of the university’s mission areas, yet they remain vitally important. Most notably in this category was the opening of the new, 20,000-square-foot UAMS Child Development Center in May. The center offers child care and educational programs for the families of employees and students. as well as families in surrounding neighborhoods.