Psychiatric Research Institute


June 6, 2023

Researchers Forming Alliance to Help Women Who Have Been Incarcerated

Tim Taylor

Melissa Zielinski, Ph.D., director of UAMS’ Health and the Legal System (HEALS) Lab.

LITTLE ROCK — A research team at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) recently received an award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to help launch an alliance of Arkansas organizations that provide services to women who have been incarcerated.


May 16, 2023

Research Team Looking for Connection Between Isolation, Mental Illness in Older Adults

Tim Taylor

Tatiana Wolfe, Ph.D., is part of a group of UAMS researchers who are studying a possible link between social seclusion and mental illness in older adults.

LITTLE ROCK — A group of researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has launched a pilot project to study a possible link between social seclusion and mental illness in older adults.


April 25, 2023

UAMS Invests Laura B. Dunn, M.D., in Marie Wilson Howells Chair in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Andrew Vogler

Dunn Investiture

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine invested Laura B. Dunn, M.D., in the Marie Wilson Howells Chair in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences during an April 20 ceremony. Dunn, who joined UAMS in February 2022 as chair of the UAMS Department of Psychiatry and director of the UAMS…


April 21, 2023

Young Patients Explore Life Cycle of Butterflies

Tim Taylor

PRI Child Diagnostic Unit butterfly designs.

There are roughly 750 species of butterfly in the United States. That fact may come as a surprise to most people, but probably not to the young patients on the Child Diagnostic Unit in the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute. The young children on the inpatient unit recently spent four weeks learning a great deal about…


December 1, 2022

UAMS Researchers Design App to Prevent Opioid Use Disorder Relapse

Tim Taylor

Ronald G. Thompson, Ph.D., (left) Andrew James, Ph.D., and Mary Bollinger, Ph.D., (not shown) have designed an app to decrease opioid cravings and optimize medication-assisted treatment among individuals with opioid use disorder.

LITTLE ROCK — A trio of researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have designed a smart phone application to decrease opioid cravings and optimize medication-assisted treatment among individuals with opioid use disorder.


November 7, 2022

UAMS Assisting Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office in Care of Detainees with Substance Use Disorder

Tim Taylor

Nickolas Zaller, Ph.D., speaks at a press conference Nov. 1 announcing a $1.3 million grant awarded the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Several University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) researchers are working with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office to reduce the use of opioids among its incarcerated population.


May 13, 2022

Gift Bags Offer Encouragement and a Chance to Give Back

Tim Taylor

A former patient herself, Anna Ruth Merritt and members of the Mosaic church in Conway made gift bags for the patients in the Women’s Inpatient Unit at the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute.

With her ever-present smile and energetic personality, one might not comprehend the struggles that Anna Ruth Merritt has dealt with since she was a young girl.


March 15, 2022

Brian Kirkpatrick, M.D., Joins UAMS’ Walker Family Clinic

Tim Taylor

Brian Kirkpatrick, M.D., MSPH, has joined the Walker Family Clinic at UAMS.

LITTLE ROCK — Brian Kirkpatrick, M.D., MSPH, has joined the Walker Family Clinic at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as an outpatient psychiatrist.


March 14, 2022

Aaron Carson, M.D., Brian Mooney, M.D., Join UAMS’ Northwest Arkansas Behavioral Health Clinic

Tim Taylor

Aaron Carson, M.D., (left) and Brian Mooney, M.D., have joined UAMS' Northwest Arkansas behavioral clinic in Fayetteville as psychiatrists.

FAYETTEVILLE — Aaron Carson, M.D., and Brian Mooney, M.D., have joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) newly relocated Northwest Arkansas behavioral health clinic  as outpatient psychiatrists.


December 8, 2021

UAMS Receives $3 Million to Reimburse Facilities Providing Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use

Yavonda Chase

Michael Mancino, M.D.

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) recently received $3 million from the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) to compensate facilities across the state providing opioid use disorder patients with medication-assisted treatment.



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