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UAMS Chancellor C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., speaks to Pine Bluff High School students on Feb. 23.
Image by Andrea Hooten
New UAMS Chancellor Visits Pine Bluff High School, Encourages Students to Pursue Health Care Careers
| PINE BLUFF — C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., new chancellor for UAMS, kicked off his town hall tour of eight regional campuses Feb. 23 at his hometown of Pine Bluff.
He first addressed students at Pine Bluff High School, his alma mater, and then met with employees at the UAMS South Central Regional Campus in Pine Bluff.
The high school assembly gave Barnes an opportunity to share his story of growing up in Pine Bluff and how it shaped him, telling of teachers who prodded him to stretch his limits.
Back row: Pine Bluff Mayor Vivian Flowers, Chancellor C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., Watson Chapel Superintendent Keith McGee, University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees member Col. Nate Todd and Pine Bluff High School Principal Ronald Laurent. Front row: seniors Paris Fisher, DeArius Logwood, Adam Price and Mariyah Savage.Andrea Hooten
He was joined by Pine Bluff Mayor Vivian Flowers, Pine Bluff High School Principal Ronald Laurent, Watson Chapel Superintendent Keith McGee, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Chancellor Anthony Graham, and Col. Nate Todd, who sits on the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees.
The Pine Bluff Dark Cloud Band opened the assembly, and the Pine Bluff High School Choir, which will be competing at the state competition in April, performed a vocal presentation.
As a high school student, Barnes knew he wanted to pursue medicine, so he started working as an orderly at Jefferson Regional Medical Center, where he met his mentor, Banks Blackwell, M.D.,pat who introduced him to the world of orthopaedic surgery.
Barnes noted that one of his first jobs as an orderly was to shave a man for hip replacement surgery. After nicking the man in multiple places, Blackwell saw the patient, stepped out and said, ‘Well, it looks like you started my operation for me. Why don’t you go to the operating room with me?’” Barnes said from that point, he knew he wanted a career as an orthopaedic surgeon.
Barnes encouraged the students to seriously consider the opportunities for careers in health care, exploring hands-on health care camps and activities through UAMS South Central Regional Campus or UAMS’ Pathways Academy.
“There is nothing better than taking care of others, whether it be in health professions, whether it be in ministry, whether it be in education,” he said. “You’re just not going to get the same feeling if you’re not connecting to people and making a difference in other people’s lives.”
His next stop at the UAMS South Central Regional Campus gave Barnes an opportunity to talk with UAMS employees and to trace his medical background, his training at Jefferson Regional and steps to the chancellorship.
He said one of his first steps as chancellor will be to create a spirit of hospitality in all aspects of UAMS, from environmental services to patient care.
“This has probably never been taken to this level at UAMS before. We’re going to put the heart back in health care in our state, and it’s going to start at UAMS,” Barnes said.
Barnes spoke to employees at the South Central Regional Campus.Andrea Hooten
Physicians, physician residents and staff asked questions centered on finances, staff cuts and lack of pay raises. They were met with Barnes’ frank discussion on the realities of lower profit margins and how UAMS must produce enough funds in its clinical enterprise to help pay for education.
“We lost $100 million in three years. None of you all would invest in a company losing $100 million in three years. You’d want to see the company start to turn itself around, and so that’s what we’re doing. We lost some money in January, but we made money four months in a row prior to that — the first time that’s been done since 2019,” Barnes said.
One employee asked how to offer better care to those with a lower socioeconomic status and their lack of insurance. Barnes said he is hopeful that access will improve with funding from the Rural Health Transformation Program. Arkansas was recently awarded $208 million through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to strengthen health care access in rural communities.
Barnes also commented on the pursuit of National Cancer Institute designation for the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, a recognition given to cancer centers that meet rigorous standards for research, cancer prevention and treatment. The goal is to submit the application in May or September, and he feels UAMS has a good chance of receiving the designation because of the “large geographic footprint around our state that doesn’t have NCI designations.”
Barnes also talked about a new six-year program where students at the University of Arkansas can enter an accelerated track, finishing an undergraduate degree and medical school in six years. More details will be announced March 9 at the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees meeting.
He also touted 40 full-ride scholarships created through the UAMS Chancellor’s Scholars Program. Fifteen scholarships are designated for the College of Medicine, with the remaining scattered among UAMS colleges of public health, pharmacy, nursing and health professions. The recipients must practice in Arkansas the same number of years they were supported.
“We believe if we get people to work in our state for a short period of time, they stay,” Barnes said.
The next town hall will be in Fayetteville at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus on March 5.