UAMS’ James Fletcher, M.D., Earns Fellow Status from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
| LITTLE ROCK — James Fletcher, M.D., of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has earned the designation Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. The status of Fellow is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a physician member of the AAHPM.
Fletcher is assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Division of Palliative Medicine and a faculty member for the UAMS Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) fellowship program, the only HPM subspecialty program in the state.
The goal of palliative care is to help patients live as well as possible while facing a serious or life-threatening illness. Palliative care physicians offer care at any stage of illness, including end of life, and address patients’ physical, spiritual and mental needs.
Fletcher earned his medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School. He received a commission through the U.S. Navy and trained in internal medicine at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. Following residency, he was chief of residents at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP).
He went on to complete a Nephrology Fellowship at the National Capital Consortium. After serving as a staff physician and assistant program director for the Internal Medicine Residency at NMCP, he completed a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. Before coming to UAMS, he was on faculty at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas.
The AAHPM is the only national medical specialty society for hospice and palliative medicine. Since 1988, AAHPM has supported hospice and palliative medicine through professional education and training, development of a specialist workforce, support for clinical practice standards, research and advocacy. AAHPM’s membership includes more than 5,200 physicians and other health care professionals committed to improving the care of patients with serious illness. Learn more at www.aahpm.org or visit the patient website, www.PalliativeDoctors.org.
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.###