Oct. 28, 2008 | UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., has received two statewide awards this month: one from the Arkansas Hospital Association and one from American Institute of Architects, Arkansas Chapter.

Wilson received the Arkansas Hospital Association Distinguished Service Award at an Oct. 8 ceremony as part of the Hospital Association’s 78th Annual Meeting. He received the Award of Merit from the American Institute of Architects, Arkansas Chapter, at a ceremony on Oct. 24. 

The architects’ award is given to a nonarchitect who has advanced the cause of good planning and design and/or contributed to the dignity and value of the architectural profession. Individuals, public officials, public agencies and companies are eligible.

“We wanted to recognize the chancellor for everything he’s done at UAMS to promote good architecture,” said Thad Kelly III, president of the AIA, Arkansas Chapter, and an architect with Cromwell Architects Engineers Inc., in Little Rock. “Through Dr. Wilson’s oversight of numerous UAMS construction projects, the campus has become a wonderful example of good architecture.” 

The Hospital Association’s Distinguished Service Award was given for Wilson’s many accomplishments as UAMS’ leader since October 2000. A letter nominating Wilson for the award was written by Dick Pierson, UAMS vice chancellor for Clinical Programs and executive director of the UAMS Medical Center.

“He has worked tirelessly with various groups, including the Arkansas Legislature, hospitals and physicians in Arkansas, and community leaders, to expand the health care work force,” Pierson wrote. “He has developed and is putting in action a strategy to address the almost catastrophic predictions of unmet needs in the future.”

Pierson cited the new UAMS education building that opened in August and was named in Wilson’s honor. The building gives UAMS the ability to increase the number of medical, nursing, pharmacy and other students at UAMS. 

Pierson noted that total class size at UAMS has grown from 1,855 in 2000 to 2,538 last year and almost 3,000 projected for 2010. Wilson also has led the creation of a satellite campus in Northwest Arkansas. 

Additionally, UAMS has implemented or completed more than $425 million in construction projects, including a new hospital, a new Psychiatric Research Institute and expansion of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

“Without this expansion, the ability of UAMS to take referred patients from hospitals and physicians throughout Arkansas is and has been compromised due to scarcity of beds,” Pierson wrote. 

Wilson also has overseen growth of UAMS Regional Programs and the creation of the UAMS Center for Distance Health. And he has encouraged the entrepreneurial spirit of UAMS’ talented physicians and scientists through UAMS BioVentures, the Arkansas Biosciences Institute and the Biomedical Research complex.