Here are this week’s Accolades, a roundup of some of the honors and accomplishments of College of Medicine and UAMS faculty, staff, residents, fellows and students I’ve heard about recently.
Newly Invested
Congratulations to Dr. Shashank Kraleti on his formal investiture in the Dr. Algernon Sidney Garnett Chair in Family Medicine on April 10. The investiture is just the latest of many well-earned honors for Dr. Kraleti for his exceptional clinical and academic leadership, teaching, mentoring and much more during his 15 years on the faculty. Dr. Kraleti has served as Chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine since last July. He also serves as Director of the Primary Care and Population Health Service Line and Senior Vice President for UAMS Health. Read more about Dr. Kraleti and the investiture in the UAMS Newsroom.
Protecting Arkansas’ Children
Dr. Sufna John, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Co-Director of UAMS’ Arkansas Building Effective Services for Trauma (ARBEST) program, recently received the Percy Malone Child Protection Award from the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas. ARBEST is dedicated to improving outcomes for traumatized children and their families through excellence in clinical care, training, advocacy and research. The award honors Arkansans who, like State Sen. Percy Malone and his wife, Donna, have fought to prevent and end the devastating effects of physical and sexual abuse of the state’s children.
Surgery, Neonatology Collaboration Published in JAMA
Dr. Sid Dassinger, Professor of Surgery and Chief of Pediatric General Surgery, and Dr. Sherry Courtney, a Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Clinical Research for Neonatology, were investigators and co-authors on a multi-center clinical trial, recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), into the effect of early vs. late inguinal hernia repair in preterm infants. The study, which required close collaboration between the Surgery and Neonatology teams at UAMS and other participating centers, helped to address an important question in a very vulnerable population. The findings support delaying inguinal hernia repair until after initial discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit.
Young Investigator Award
Dr. Divya Citla, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology-Oncology, received the coveted Young Investigator Travel Award at the Thrombosis Hemostasis Summit of North America (THSNA) meeting in Chicago this month. She delivered an oral presentation on a national claims database study into osteoporosis and fragility fractures in hemophilia and von Willebrand disease. Dr. Citla also presented two poster abstracts – a quality improvement study on access to factor 8 and factor 9 products for patients with hemophilia in Arkansas, and “ATHN Transcends,” a natural history cohort study of bleeding symptoms and treatment outcomes in patients with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia.
National Trauma Conference Presentation
Dr. Kyle Kalkwarf, Associate Professor of Surgery and UAMS Trauma Medical Director, recently presented his work stemming from a UAMS Translational Research Institute Implementation Science Scholar Award at the Western Trauma Association (WTA) meeting. The event is the most selective annual trauma meeting, with only 40 research projects presented annually. This is the second WTA presentation for Dr. Kalkwarf in three years. The manuscript for the project was accepted for publication in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. Along with colleagues from the Division of Acute Care Surgery, co-authors included UAMS clinical informaticist Dr. Brett Bailey and the College of Pharmacy’s Dr. Geoffrey Curran.
Healthcare Research All-Stars
Nine current and former UAMS physicians have been named “Healthcare Research All-Stars” for 2024 by Avant-garde Health, a technology and analytics company. The UAMS Hip and Knee Surgery team placed among the top 1% of hip and knee surgeons nationwide, the Orthopaedic Surgery team was among the top 3% nationwide, and both the Gastrointestinal and General Surgery teams at UAMS placed among the top 5% nationwide for published, leading-edge health care research. Current faculty members named as All-Stars are Dr. Lowry Barnes, Dr. Jeffrey Stambough and Dr. Benjamin Stronach (Orthopaedic Surgery); Dr. Sumant Inamdar (Gastroenterology); Dr. Subhi Al’Aref (Cardiology); and Dr. Emmanouil Giorgakis (General/Transplant Surgery). Read more in the UAMS Newsroom.
Paper Examines Gingivitis and Neuroinflammation
Dr. Ambika Verma, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department ofGeriatricsandDonald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, was first author on anarticleinGeroScience that sheds new light on the mechanisms that gingivitis may play in neuroinflammation. The article, “Proteomic Analysis of p. Gingivalis-lipopolysaccharide induced Neuroinflammation in SH-S5Y and HMC3 Cells,” was coauthored by faculty membersDr. Xiaomin Zhang, Dr. Gohar Azhar andDepartment Chair Dr. Jeanne Wei(senior author) and post-doctoral fellowDr. Pankaj Patyal.
National Neurosurgical Research Summer Fellowship
Congratulations to second-year College of Medicine student Andrew Mathews on receiving a 2024 Neurosurgery Research Education Foundation Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship. The highly competitive national award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons is presented to fewer than 15 students from across the United States and Canada annually. Andrew is mentored by Dr. Analiz Rodriguez, Associate Professor, Director of Neurosurgical Oncology and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Neurosurgery.
“Girlology” Workshop is an Ongoing Hit
Kudos to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for hosting the latest “Girlology” workshop, which drew about 350 girls ages 8-13 and their caregivers to campus on April 7 to learn about issues relating to puberty. Special thanks as well to the medical student volunteers who helped out, including leaders Ashton Jones and Sally Barnes, along with Megan Hand, Madi Nichols, Katie Pacheco, Sarah Mitchell, Madison Haraway and Cat Davis. OB/GYN Chair Dr. Nirvana Manning, Dr. Kate Stambough and Dr. Laura Hollenbach initiated the popular recurring workshop in 2022.
TRI Research Day Highlights “The Last Mile”
The UAMS Translational Research Institute’s Research Day 2024 celebrated novel, transformative research and translational science aimed at improving health outcomes in Arkansas. A shout-out to TRI Director Dr. Laura James and her team and the many presenters and other participants who made the recent event a great success. Read more about the event, including key presenters, here. Congratulations also to this year’s poster contest winners.
I would like to wrap up this week’s Accolades with an insightful comment from Dr. Susan Emmett, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Epidemiology, who delivered one of two keynote presentations at TRI Research Day. Dr. Emmett is founder and Director of the UAMS Center for Hearing Health Equity and is leading a large-scale implementation project to bring hearing health care to rural Arkansas and other states.
“We can’t do research for research’s sake, because then we have stopped short of real-world impact,” Dr. Emmett explained. “It’s about going that last mile, creating the evidence, and then working with policymakers to ensure that it is put into practice to actually change lives.”
