UAMS Presents Virtual Family Medicine Update Oct. 23-25

By News Staff

Presented by the UAMS College of Medicine, the annual conference provides an opportunity for health care professionals to learn about the latest advances and information impacting family medicine.

The conference is completely virtual. The first day – All About Opioids – offers six hours of content for only $25. The Thursday and Friday sessions are $20 each.

To register, visit https://cvent.me/4X75nd or call 501-686-6626 by Oct. 21.

The first day is All About Opioids with talks from local and national experts on opioids, kicking off with Don Teater, M.D. He is a family physician from Denver who has focused on the intersection of pain, opioids and addiction and was medical advisor for the National Safety Council. Another nationally known speaker, Aaron Weiner, Ph.D., will offer ways providers can help those with substance use disorders when abstinence isn’t an option. A team from Boston Mountain Rural Health will give a behind-the-scenes look at how they integrated behavioral health into their clinics to help those with addiction and co-occurring mental disorders.

Other speakers on Oct. 23 include Karen Burks, M.D., a family physician with the Baptist Health-UAMS Family Medicine Residency program, and UAMS’ Bill Fantegrossi, Ph.D., who researches new psychoactive substances. Kristin Martin, D.O., founder of River Valley Medical Wellness, is bringing her team to talk about their mobile opioid recovery unit, which treats patients with substance use disorder in areas where help is scarce.

Talks on the second day will feature topics from UAMS providers on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with Sheena Colclough, APRN; a syphilis update with Mitchell Jenkins, M.D.; and chronic kidney disease with Paige Beck, M.D., Ph.D. Cassandra Fritz, M.D., an assistant professor with Washington University Medicine’s Division of Gastroenterology, also will speak on early onset colorectal cancer.

The last morning of the virtual conference will focus on weight loss medications, presented by Bri Morris, Pharm.D., executive director of the Arkansas Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network, and UAMS’ Christopher Johnson, Pharm.D. Patty Harper, CEO of InQuiseek Consulting, will update attendees on Medicare news. The two afternoon sessions will feature pulmonary and cardiology updates with Steven Deas, M.D., a UAMS physician who sees patients at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, and UAMS’ Srikanth Vallurupalli, M.D.

Participants who attend the entire conference and complete all surveys will be eligible to attend the Family Medicine Spring Review in April at no cost.

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 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 11,000 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.

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