June 20, 2023

Accolades and Division of Academic Affairs News

 

Provost Stephanie Gardner (left) with Connie Slayton, Academic Affairs Staff Member of the Year for 2022 Provost Stephanie Gardner (left) presents the Faculty Member of the Year award to Lindsay Blake.

Provost Presents Academic Affairs Faculty, Staff Awards at Spring Gathering The Division of Academic Affairs gathered April 4 for fellowship and to celebrate two team members for their contributions in the past year. Lindsay Blake, MLIS, AHIP, associate professor and clinical services coordinator in the Library, received the 2022 Academic Affairs Faculty Member of the Year award. Connie Slayton, division fiscal manager, received the 2022 Staff Member of the Year award. Slayton was credited with doing “whatever it takes” to keep operations running smoothly. She has been at UAMS for more than 21 years – including the past 15 in Academic Affairs. Her work supports all of the units within the division as well as some units outside of Academic Affairs. She served an integral role last year during the Workday implementation, including hosting training sessions for the division and being a campus lead on researching issues and working with the UA System Office. The nomination letter for Blake detailed a valued teacher, mentor, active scholar and leader — both on campus and within her profession. Joining the Library in 2019, she was tasked with creating a clinical librarian program. She did such a good job at strengthening the Library’s ties with the UAMS clinical mission that the program was expanded with the addition of a second clinical librarian. She teaches one-on-one and small group sessions plus team-based learning sessions with the entire 174-student College of Medicine class. Her nominator says that she “personifies a faculty member working at the height of the profession.” Provost Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., presented the award recipients with trophies and praised their contributions to the division and to UAMS. She added that she was pleased to see a strong group of nominations for each award, noting that any of the nominees would have been worthy recipients.

Boagni Named Among Top 100 Women of Impact in Arkansas

Mellie Boagni, president and chief executive officer of the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership and regional director in the UAMS Office of Strategy Management, was recently selected as one of the Top 100 Women of Impact in Arkansas by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas.  Seeing an unmet need to address health care access and workforce issues in rural south Arkansas, Bridewell connected five hospitals in 2008 to form the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership. Today, the non-profit encompasses 16 rural hospital members, three medical teaching institutions and two federally qualified health centers. Honorees will be featured in a special publication from Little Rock Soiree and Arkansas Business Publishing Group in September and celebrated at WFA’s 2023 Power of the Purse event.

 

Alyssa Frisby, M.S., RD, LD

Frisby Appointed Instructor, Brand Manager in Culinary Medicine Program  Alyssa Frisby, M.S., RD, LD, was recently appointed as an Instructor in the Division of Academic Affairs and brand manager of the Culinary Medicine Program. She joined the program in 2021 in the community outreach realm with her role growing into a part-time instructor position in 2022. In her new role she will be managing all operational and programming for the culinary medicine program. She will help to ensure the program reaches its vision of making all Arkansans healthier, increasing nutrition awareness and knowledge to access healthier food options and to increase UAMS Culinary Medicine brand recognition. Frisby graduated from the College of Charleston with a bachelor’s degree in mass media communications and went on to complete a post-baccalaureate degree and master’s degree in nutrition from the University of Central Arkansas.

 

Teach the Teacher Includes Poster Presentations from ESSC Faculty

Jasna Vuk, M.D., Ph.D., learning specialist and an associate professor in the Educational and Student Success Center, joined colleagues on two posters featured during the recent 14^th Annual Teach the Teacher Symposium at UAMS. The posters were “Academic support of medical students in the ESSC over period of six years” and “COVID-19’s Effects on Medical Student Performance on USMLE Step 1.” The posters were presented by Dr. Vuk, together with other UAMS colleagues from College of Medicine, Karina Clemmons, Ed.D., and Diane Jarrett, Ed.D.

 

Division Sees Gafford, Thomas Honored as 2023 UAMS Phenomenal Women

Shelia Thomas, MA (LS), M.Ed., associate professor and research-clinical search services coordinator, and Stefani Gafford, MPH, instructor and promotions-digital engagement coordinator, both from the UAMS Library, were both honored as UAMS 2023 UAMS Phenomenal Women. There were among the 36 employees nominated by colleagues for the honor as part of Women’s History Month. A March 30 event recognized women who demonstrate UAMS’ core values, who give voice to marginalized populations, who celebrate or inspire other women, or who overcome personal or professional challenges through skill and determination. Read more here:

news.uams.edu/2023/04/11/uams-celebrates-achievements-of-phenomenal-women/

 

Blake, Tong Authors on JAMA Dermatology Manuscript

UAMS Librarians Lindsay Blake, MLIS, AHIP and Lauren Tong, MLIS, were co-authors on the following systematic review, which was selected as one of JAMA Dermatology’s Best Articles of the Year. Sophia Ly, a UAMS MD/MPH Candidate and clinical research fellow, was lead author for “Use of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Acne Vulgaris and Rosacea Clinical Trials From 2011 to 2021

A Systematic Review,” from the December 2022 issue of JAMA Dermatology. Link: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/2797838

 

Thomas Co-Authors Manuscript in OB-Gyn Journal

Shelia Thomas, MA (LS), research and clinical search services coordinator in the UAMS Library, was a co-author on the recent American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology article “Birth plans: definitions, content, effects, and best practices.” Other UAMS authors on the manuscript included lead author Taylor Ghahremani, M.D, along with co-authors Amy Phillips, M.D., and Everett Magann, M.D., all from the College of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Link: https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(22)02272-4/fulltext

 

Anders Co-Authors Four Manuscripts

Michael Anders, Ph .D., associate professor in the Office of Educational Development, co-authored four peer-reviewed manuscripts, three of which culminated from Teaching Scholars projects and one for which the first author was Jasna Vuk, M.D, Ph.D., associate professor and learning specialist in the Educational Student Success Center. The citations:

• Ackles C, Anders M. Seeking Education, Equity, and Diversity (SEED): The Learning Experience, Cultural Humility, and Intention to Effect Change. Journal of Regional Medical Campuses 2023;6.
• Riley E, Stickley K, Dayer L, Teigen A, Richardson L, Trotter S, Nagel C, McFerguson R, Ward N, Anders M. Interprofessional Naloxone Student Training to Manage Suspected Opioid Overdose. Clinical Nurse Specialist, 2023; 37.
• Heo S, Haley B, Wright, P, Barone, CP, Anders ME, Bertulfo, T, Troyan, P.  Factors associated with changes in patient-centered care in undergraduate nursing students. Nursing Education Perspectives 2023; 44:82-86.
• Vuk J, Anders ME, Rhee S. Self-paced polling increases medical student engagement in recorded lectures and improves examination performance. Advances in Physiology Education 2022;46:728-734.

 

Rood Presents Lecture to Lab Sciences Students

Marsha Rood, BSMT, ASCP, CHS, Office of Academic Services lab coordinator, recently presented an invited lecture on Human Leukocyte Anitgens to 23 Medical Laboratory Science students enrolled in the immunohematology course.

 

CHL, Sim Education Team Up on Manuscript

Allison Caballero, MPH, CHES, director of the UAMS Center for Health Literacy, is lead author on the manuscript “The Role of Health Literacy in Simulation Education: Needs Assessment and Call to Action” that was recently accepted for publication in the International Journal of Simulation Education. UAMS co-authors included Pamela DeGravelles, RN, Ph.D., College of Nursing; Sherry Johnson, CHSE, health care simulation educator in the Centers for Simulation Education; Kat Neill, Pharm.D., associate provost for academics and director of administrative and curricular affairs in the Office of Interprofessional Education; Travis Hill, executive director, Centers for Simulation Education; and Karen Dickinson, MBBS, M.D., M.Ed., FRCS, director of IPE simulation and clinical skills training.

 

CHL Kudos

• Misty Paschall, MPH, MAEd, CHES, research and evaluation associate, completed Leading Quality Improvement training and her team noted progress toward reducing readmissions, following their work which included contributions from CHL. Her team’s project was titled Improving Patient Education to Reduce Readmissions in Surgical Urology Patients.
• Katie Leath, MPH, MA, services and communication manager, was invited to serve as the co-chair for the Center for Plain Language’s ClearMark Awards.

 

CHL Reports Recent Posters and Presentations

Recent posters and presentations by the Center for Health Literacy team include:

• Spencer N, Bona J, Brochhausen M, Caballero A, Gan J, Kemp A, Miner S, Utecht J, Whorton J, James L. (2022). Use of Community Review Boards to Evaluate the Utility of the ICF Navigator – A Browser-based Tool to Create Plain-Language Informed Consent Forms. Translational Science (poster, Association for Clinical and Translational Science). Washington, DC.
• Paschall M, Caballero A, Leath K, Scullark, M, Steel, T, Taylor E. (2023). Patient Education Materials Management: A Systematic Approach. Oral Abstract. Society for Public Health Education. Atlanta, GA.
• Caballero A. (2023). Organizational Health Literacy: Take a Step Toward Equitable Learner Empowerment. Roundtable.  Society for Public Health Education. Atlanta, GA.