University News

Dr. Johann at desk

Johann Granted $1.47 Million to Continue Cutting-Edge Lung Cancer Clinical Trials

May 7, 2019 | What will lung cancer diagnosis and treatment look like in the future? Look no further than the research happening today at UAMS. “We’re coming into the long-promised ‘future’ of cancer treatment,” said physician-scientist Donald J. Johann Jr., M.D. “For the last 50 years, the holy grail of cancer research has been being able to detect...

Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D.

Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D., Named UAMS Vice Chancellor for Research

May 7, 2019 | Internationally renowned scientist Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D., has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Science (UAMS) as its vice chancellor for research and as a professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. “We could not be more fortunate to have a leader of Dr. Ho’s caliber joining our team,” said UAMS...

Valerie Yerger

Community Partners Gather to Address Health Disparities

May 6, 2019 | The role of partnerships in research was emphasized April 26 at the Community Campus Partnership Conference to address health disparities held at Heifer International in Little Rock. The conference, presented by UAMS, brought together over 200 community leaders, students, educators, social workers, health care workers, researchers and stakeholders to discuss strategies that enhance the development...

May 3, 2019 | UAMS’ pioneering work in bringing health care to those who need it through digital health applications has drawn the attention of a top federal official who traveled from Washington D.C. to UAMS recently to see for herself. Jessica Rosenworcel, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, visited April 29 with UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA; guests of the university; and leaders of UAMS’ new Institute for Digital Health & Innovation, including institute director Curtis Lowery, M.D. “We are 46th out of 50 states in health outcomes,” Patterson said. “UAMS needs to change that for the better, and we won’t do it just by staying in Pulaski County.” Telemedicine allows health professionals to diagnose and treat patients not physically present by using telecommunications technology, such as live video. It allows UAMS to extend its presence beyond its main campus and regional campuses. The creation of the institute, under the leadership of Patterson and Lowery, was announced in February and builds upon several telemedicine programs already in place, including ANGELS for high-risk pregnancy, AR SAVES for stroke, STAR for rural School-Based Health Centers and more. The institute connects the majority of hospitals and clinics across the state with telemedicine through interactive video and other digital services. Lowery gave a brief presentation to Rosenworcel about the history of digital health and telemedicine at UAMS. Lowery, Tina Benton, B.S.N., and a small team of clinicians and staff in 2003 founded ANGELS to bring maternal-fetal medicine to women with high-risk pregnancies who did not live near such a specialist. ANGELS (the Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System) is an innovative consultative service for a wide range of physicians including family practitioners, obstetricians, neonatologists and pediatricians in Arkansas. An ANGELS obstetrician can talk to a pregnant mother via a live video connection and watch an ultrasound image of her baby from a local hospital so she can avoid traveling to Little Rock hours away. Lowery said the institute is doing a pilot study to see if ANGELS’ live video consultations can help during an emergency labor-and-delivery. “That’s the only way you’re going to do anything about it,” Lowery said. “By the time you transfer a mother from that smaller hospital, we might lose her because of excessive bleeding. I think in the next year we’re going to explore the idea of delivering blood by using drones. It could make a real difference when a hospital doesn’t have the blood for a massive loss.” Rosenworcel said she was intrigued by the idea of using drones to facilitate the transportation of blood and transplant organs. During her visit, she observed a live ANGELS consultation with a pregnant mother in another Arkansas town and toured the 24-hour call center that routes calls for ANGELS and other telemedicine programs like Arkansas Stroke Assistance through Virtual Emergency Support (AR SAVES). Renee Joiner, B.S.N., AR SAVES director, briefed Rosenworcel about the stroke telemedicine program. UAMS started AR SAVES in 2008 to provide telemedicine consultations with stroke neurologists at any time via live video. Through this service, almost 2,000 patients have received a clot-busting drug that often restores complete function to the patient. Arkansas recently fell to seventh in the nation in the number of stroke deaths per capita after many years in first place, a huge improvement credited in part to the efforts of AR SAVES. “I went down to Crossett on Friday and met a 27-year-old gentleman who had a stroke and went to the Ashley County Medical Center,” Patterson said. “He was treated through AR SAVES. Without this, he probably would have been a paraplegic and unable to work.” Rosenworcel learned about the trauma telemedicine program and the School Telemedicine in Arkansas (STAR) program, the first-ever effort to bring telemedicine care to Arkansas’ rural School-Based Health Centers. STAR two years ago rolled out the Healthy Now initiative for obesity reduction and prevention. Graduate students from the University of Central Arkansas and a UAMS nutritionist engage the students in one-on-one telemedicine encounters. “We piloted the program in the Magazine School District,” said Alan Faulkner, a program manager for the institute. “With two groups of participating students, 51% in one group reduced their weight, and 66% in another group reduced their weight.” Rosenworcel said she found those numbers to be very impressive. She was also given an overview of the Arkansas e-Link network by network director Roy Kitchen. The network was created from a $102 million grant awarded in August 2010 to UAMS and partner institutions through the federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program Comprehensive Community Infrastructure grant. Led by UAMS, e-Link uses high-speed data transmission lines to connect about 400 community institutions for videoconferencing between medical professionals, patients and doctors and others along with the real-time exchange of patient data and readings. “Your approach has been great,” Rosenworcel said. “Instead of building a network and then finding problems to solve with it, you identified many real problems in public health and specific ways a digital health network can be used to solve them.” Rosenworcel especially enjoyed being able to meet an ANGELS patient via live video and observe the patient’s telemedicine consultation. “We are becoming one of the most connected states in the nation, and we believe with that we can use digital health to improve the health and quality of life of Arkansans,” Lowery said.

FCC Commissioner Impressed by UAMS Digital Health Initiatives

May 3, 2019 | UAMS’ pioneering work in bringing health care to those who need it through digital health applications has drawn the attention of a top federal official who traveled from Washington D.C. to UAMS recently to see for herself. Jessica Rosenworcel, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, visited April 29 with UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D.,...

UAMS volunteers administer a vision screening for a Special Olympics athlete.

UAMS Volunteers Provide Physicals for Special Olympics Athletes

May 2, 2019 | Like a school gym on tryout day, the waiting room of the UAMS 12th Street Health & Wellness Center was abuzz with energy as dozens of young athletes waited their turn to take a physical that would clear them for sporting competition. Some were a bundle of nerves. Others were relaxed and all smiles. But...

Group photo of Sweere, Scott and Sifford

First-year COM Team Makes Top-10 in National Ultrasound Competition

May 1, 2019 | A group of College of Medicine freshmen recently went toe-to-toe with some of the leading medical schools in the nation. Their weapon of choice? The ultrasound. Morgan D. Sweere, Hayden Scott and Mason Sifford competed in SonoSlam, hosted by the American Institute of Ultrasound Medicine and National Ultrasound Interest Group, on April 6 in Orlando,...

Mark Deal and Chancellor Cam Patterson use oversized scissors from the Pine Bluff Regional Chamber of Commerce for the official ribbon cutting at the South Central Regional Campus.

UAMS Celebrates Grand Opening of New Pine Bluff Regional Campus

April 30, 2019 | After an eight-month construction project, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) South Central Regional Campus in Pine Bluff celebrated its grand opening in a spacious facility on the Jefferson Regional Medical Center campus. The 33,000-square-foot space on the bottom two floors in the Jefferson Professional Building II provides room for the merger of...

Ashtyn Sturch, a senior in the Dental Hygiene program, examines a patient at the 12th Street Health & Wellness Center.

UAMS, Delta Dental Band Together to Improve Oral Health in State

April 30, 2019 | The 12th Street Health & Wellness Center has a mission. A student-run free clinic operating under the supervision of licensed health care professionals, the center provides health screenings, education, immunizations and basic dental screenings for the community. Achieving the dental portion of the clinic’s mission would not be possible without the generosity of the Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation.

Codi Anthony, soon to graduate with a doctor of nursing practice and newly direct commissioned as a captain, with her father, who served in Vietnam.

UAMS Psychiatric Nurse Serves Patients and Her Country

April 30, 2019 | Just about any nurse will tell you that service to patients and their families is a very big part of what they do. But Codi Anthony, M.N.Sc., APRN, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, has a commitment that goes beyond her work, school and children in the STRIVE program. She will finish a 10-year journey with the...

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