“We are pleased to present our 2016 Emerging Scholars. Once again, choosing 12 scholars from the many outstanding nominations we received was no easy task, given the high caliber of research, teaching and service the nominees exhibited. It seems clear that the future in the academy is bright for the outstanding scholars featured in this edition, our 15th annual Emerging Scholars special report. These scholars represent the best in service-minded scholarship. For the scholars featured on the following pages, service is not just a part of the job, it is a way of life. For those who may be discouraged about the future of the underrepresented in the academy, Dr. Antino Allen offers a ray of sunshine.”
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Keith Olsen, Pharm.D., Named Dean of UAMS College of Pharmacy
Healthcare Journal of Little Rock
July 14, 2015
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Keith M. Olsen, Pharm.D, has been named dean of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Pharmacy and will begin his role at UAMS on or before Nov. 1. As dean, Olsen will oversee all aspects of the UAMS College of Pharmacy.
Olsen succeeds Stephanie Gardner, Pharm D, Ed D, who on July 1 became the UAMS provost and chief academic officer. Kathryn Neill, Pharm.D., assistant dean and associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, will serve as interim dean of the College until Olsen takes his new post at UAMS.
Since 2007, Olsen has been chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) College of Pharmacy in Omaha, Nebraska. He also serves as manager of education and research in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Nutrition Care at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He specializes in critical care and infectious diseases, teaching and serving as the Infectious Disease Section coordinator for pharmacotherapy II and is a preceptor for the critical care and infectious diseases clerkships.
Olsen was a member of the UAMS College of Pharmacy faculty from 1989 to 1993, serving as associate professor and director of the Clinical Pharmacokinetic Laboratory and Monitoring Service.
In 1977, Olsen earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska, and in 1980 his doctor of pharmacy from UNMC. After receiving his doctorate, he completed a residency in clinical pharmacy at UNMC.
UAMS-Developed Omnibalm Cream Holds Promise for Preventing Diabetic Skin Ulcer Recurrence
LITTLE ROCK – Omnibalm Daily Foot Therapy, a cream for general and diabetic foot care developed at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), holds promise as a treatment for preventing the recurrence of lower extremity ulcers in diabetic patients, a pilot study indicates.
More extensive study will be necessary to confirm the study’s findings but the cream seems to be as effective for foot or lower extremity ulcers as the usual care — pressure-relieving footwear.
Bill Gurley, Ph.D., a UAMS College of Pharmacy pharmaceutical sciences professor, developed Omnibalm at the university. Omnibalm Daily Foot Therapy is a non-greasy formula that softens and helps repair dry, cracked skin and keeps feet healthy and shoes smelling fresh. It is marketed by Balm Innovations LLC, a UAMS Bioventures startup company licensed to take UAMS inventions from laboratories to the marketplace.
“One of the reasons for this study is that Omnibalm takes the place of several other products commonly used,” Gurley said. “Because Omnibalm has natural antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties, it is both a therapeutically and economically effective alternative to using multiple products.”
The pilot study was a collaboration between Cheryl Armstrong, M.D., former chair of the Department of Dermatology in the UAMS College of Medicine; Jerad Gardner, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pathology in the UAMS College of Medicine; and James Fletcher, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at the NEA Baptist Wound Care Clinic in Jonesboro.
The researchers enrolled 10 diabetic patients who presented at the Wound Care Clinic with a healed diabetic foot ulcer or a healed single lower extremity ulcer.
Subjects enrolled in the double-blind study were followed for a six-month period or until an ulcer recurrence. Five subjects, randomly chosen, received Omnibalm cream and five received the usual care. None of the five patients who received Omnibalm had any recurrence, and two of the five patients who received the usual care developed ulcer recurrence.
“The pilot study certainly corroborated the observations made for the last several years by many users of Omnibalm,” Armstrong said. “That none of the study’s subjects using the cream developed an ulcer recurrence certainly is promising, despite the small number of participants. The early findings provide us with strong preliminary data to justify a larger, multi-center trial involving participants from a more diverse array of regions.”
An analysis of digital photographs of each subject’s prior ulcer site taken during the six-month study period indicates there was no evidence of skin irritation or inflammation from the use of Omnibalm.
Omnibalm can be found in the diabetic sections of many Walmart stores in Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. It also is available at www.omnibalm.com.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,890 students and 782 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com.
Heard to Retire as Provost, Succeeded by Gardner
LITTLE ROCK — Jeanne Heard, M.D., Ph.D., provost and chief academic officer of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), will retire effective June 30. She will be succeeded immediately as provost by Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., dean of the College of Pharmacy and associate provost for society and health.
“Dr. Heard has had a very distinguished career in medicine and medical education. Fortunately for UAMS, several years of her career have been spent at our institution. Jeanne’s contributions to UAMS and our mission have been so numerous that I can’t name them all here. She will definitely be missed by many, especially me,” said Dan Rahn, M.D., UAMS chancellor.
Heard first joined UAMS in 1974, beginning as a research technician while completing her Ph.D. She worked in pathology before returning to school to obtain her medical degree, followed by a residency in internal medicine at UAMS and a year of practice in the Veteran’s Affairs System. She then joined the Department of Medicine where she practiced as a general internist and led a team to develop the standardized patient program and clinical skills center.
In 1995, she took on oversight of the 55 graduate medical education programs sponsored by the College of Medicine. In 2004 she left UAMS to join the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in Chicago, working for seven years at the national and international levels to improve the education and educational environment for residents and fellows. She returned to Arkansas in 2011 with the intention of retiring, but was persuaded instead to return to UAMS as vice chancellor for academic affairs. She was named provost in 2013.
“Jeanne is a champion of interprofessional education and collaborative practice, and has been a leader in the development of curriculum in all colleges to provide UAMS graduates with the skills they need to perform well in a team-based, patient- and family-centered health care environment,” said Rahn.
Gardner joined the faculty of the UAMS College of Pharmacy in 1991 and was named dean in 2003 and associate provost in 2013. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Senior Clinical Faculty Award and the Dale Bumpers AHEC Leadership Award. She has served on numerous committees of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and was elected as chair of the Women Faculty Special Interest Group for 2005-2006. She also has served as chair of the Committee on Clinical Research and as chair of the Council of Deans. She is a member of the UAMS BioVentures Advisory Board and the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement Advisory Board. Gardner also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and was elected as its president in 2014.
“I am confident that Stephanie has the qualities and knowledge needed to successfully lead our academic efforts and will be an exceptional provost. I look forward to working with her in that role in the future,” said Rahn.
UAMS will be conducting a national search for a new dean of the College of Pharmacy with Heard as the chair of the search committee.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,890 students and 782 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com.
UAMS Researchers Awarded $4.4 Million Grant for Space Radiation Health Research
LITTLE ROCK – A team of University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) research scientists recently was awarded a three-year $4.4 million grant by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) to investigate the degenerative or long-term health effects of space radiation on cardiovascular health, as part of the newly formed Center for Space Radiation Research.
Marjan Boerma, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the UAMS College of Pharmacy Division of Radiation Health, will lead the research team and serve as its principal investigator.
Compared to the general population, people exposed to radiation in different scenarios on Earth have shown higher incidences of cardiovascular diseases like hypertension, ischemic heart disease and stroke. The cardiovascular system seems more sensitive to ionizing radiation than previously believed, Boerma said. Hence, the researchers will seek to determine if radiation encountered during space travel has similar negative long-term consequences for cardiovascular health. They also will look for ways to reduce the health risks from radiation exposure in space.
“One of the countermeasures against radiation injury that we’re interested in is tocotrienol, in the vitamin E family,” Boerma said. “We will use and test gamma-tocotrienol because it has been shown to be very effective in protecting against radiation injury. Now, since tocotrienols also have several other benefits for heart and blood vessels, we’re going to test to see if it reduces cardiovascular effects from space radiation.”
In addition to Boerma, other UAMS scientists and faculty at the center include: Martin Hauer-Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., associate dean for research and director of the Division of Radiation Health in the UAMS College of Pharmacy; Alan Tackett, Ph.D., professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and Igor Koturbash, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health. Hauer-Jensen will serve as co-director of the center, while Tackett and Koturbash are co-investigators.
Researchers at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, will share in the NSBRI grant funding and will collaborate with the UAMS team through the center.
NSBRI, a 501(c)(3) organization partnered with NASA via Cooperative Agreement NCC 9-58, is studying the health risks related to long-duration spaceflight and developing the technologies and countermeasures needed for human space exploration missions. The institute’s science, technology and career development projects take place at approximately 60 institutions across the United States.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has more than 2,865 students and 785 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com.
UAMS Researcher Selected for Prestigious Journal Editorial Position
April 21, 2014 | Elvin Price, Pharm.D., Ph.D., a 2013 UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI) KL2 Career Development awardee, was recently selected to serve as an associate scientific advisor for Science Translational Medicine, sister publication of the journal Science.
Price, an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy, is the first scientist from UAMS to earn the selection in the publication’s five-year history. It was based on his writing sample and a nomination from Robert McGehee, Ph.D., who directs TRI’s Research Education, Training and Career Development Program. Price is among just 26 early career researchers nationally selected as associate scientific advisors for 2014.
Price will write nine editorials for the publication this year. The April issue of Science Translational Medicine includes his first editorial on cardiac ischemia titled: “Dancing with the Scars: Choreography of the Macrophage Two Step After Myocardial Infarction.”
“This is a really cool opportunity,” Price said. “I get to work with senior editors from the science family, and I can already see the benefits to the quality of my writing for applications that I will submit in June and to the manuscripts that I’m working on.”
McGehee, dean of the UAMS Graduate School, noted that the editors at Science Translational Medicine were looking for an inaugural set of investigators who could be associate editors and bring interests and expertise across multiple disciplines in recognizing and moving translational medicine forward.
“Dr. Price was a natural and perfect choice,” McGhee said. “His training background in clinical pharmacy as a Pharm.D., furthered by his Ph.D. training in cardiovascular pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine provide him with a very unique translational skill set for such a role, and it is very rewarding the editors recognized this.”
“These are the kinds of opportunities that we really like to see our KL2 Scholars get involved with,” he said.
Price is one of 13 promising early career researchers selected over the last five years for a KL2 award by the Translational Research Institute. The award provides salary and research support to help jump-start the research programs of junior investigators like Price.
Price is studying promising genetic predictors that he hopes will help doctors prescribe the right cardiovascular medicines for their patients.
Science Translational Medicine, established in 2009, is an interdisciplinary medical research journal established by the journal Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It aims to advance the field of translational medicine, which promotes the transfer of basic science discoveries and experimental approaches of modern science to the alleviation of human disease.
Health Sciences Brought to Life for High School Students
April 15, 2014 | North Little Rock High School students moved their arms to mimic cilia, held a human heart and donned lab coats to concoct soap with the help of UAMS College of Pharmacy students and the Partners in Health Sciences Program (PIHS).
UAMS recently exposed 20 students to pharmacy skills and health science concepts such as the biology of cancer, the functional anatomy of the heart, cardiovascular system and skin, and the traits of major diseases like emphysema.
Students spent time in the lab using glycerin, dye, fragrance and petroleum jelly to make their own soap and lip balm under the direction of volunteers from the UAMS Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA).
“We want to show students the behind-the-scenes of pharmacy,” said Clarice Montgomery, first-year UAMS College of Pharmacy student. “Pharmacy goes beyond what they see on the shelves at their local pharmacy.”
Most of the student participants already have their sights set on a pharmacy career, like North Little Rock High School senior Jason Woodworth.
“I am really advanced in math and science and I am already working in a pharmacy,” he said. “I think it’s really interesting to work with all the different medicines.”
Robert Burns, Ph.D., professor in the department of neurobiology and developmental biology in the UAMS College of Medicine and founding director of the PIHS program since its inception in 1991, led interactive workshops “Biology of Cancer” and “Healthy Lungs and Gums” to foster interest in health science and healthy living.
He used foam squares, construction paper, elastic bands and even a stuffed animal to catch the students’ attention in showing how processes work in the body.
“My goal is to expose the students to some in-depth health science content that most probably do not get in middle or high school,” Burns said. “In the workshop the students performed as cells in different normal and abnormal situations such as the ciliary wave of the respiratory system in a normal situation and bombarded by tobacco smoke.”
The lab work and the workshops encouraged the students to “kick it up a notch or two,” said John Nilz, doctor of veterinary medicine and teacher in the Medical Professions Department of North Little Rock High – West Campus.
“This was an awesome experience for a set of seniors who felt honored by the special treatment,” Nilz said. “The lecture with Dr. Burns made some of them realize the challenge of a medical profession. We truly appreciated UAMS’ accommodations.”
The PIHS program has provided thousands of hours of professional development statewide to Pre-K-12 teachers as well as nurses and students. The program is financially supported by UAMS, National Institutes of Health Center for Research Resources, Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Cancer Coalition, Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and the Arkansas Department of Human Services – Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education.
On Heels of National Award, Pharmacy Students Aim to Raise Organ Donor Awareness
April 15, 2014 | This year, UAMS College of Pharmacy students hope again to win the national Organ Donation Challenge in a way that surpasses their past performance as well as their rivals.
April is national Organ Donation Awareness Month. In 2013, UAMS College of Pharmacy students for the first time won the challenge from the American Society of Transplantation by raising public awareness of the need for more organ donors.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 105,567 people in 2009 were on waiting lists for organ donations and 28,463 of those received them. That gap only has widened every year since. On average, 18 people die every day while waiting for a donated organ.
“You can see the supply is so much smaller than the demand, which is why we’re trying to encourage people to become organ donors,” said Seth Heldenbrand, Pharm. D., associate professor in the College of Pharmacy. “We are actually doing better in Arkansas than our surrounding states, with more than 50 percent of Arkansans being registered organ donors.”
Heldenbrand is advising the college’s students who have volunteered for the awareness effort.
The students in 2013 won the national contest of pharmacy students through presentations to high school and college students that included testimonials from the recipients of organ donations, appearances on area television and radio stations, T-shirt sales that raised $1,000 for the cause, coordination of a Wear Blue/Green Day for organ donation awareness, and participation in a wellness campaign at the UAMS 12th Street Health and Wellness Center.
Pharmacy students this month are doing all that again and more, including working with UAMS College of Medicine and College of Nursing students to raise awareness.
“Although the award is for pharmacy students, we wanted to be sure and include anyone who wants to get involved, especially students from other UAMS colleges. We want to be intercollegiate,” said Julianna Marcus, a third-year pharmacy student involved in the effort. “This year, we also plan to give any money raised to provide help to a donor recipient family.”
Additionally, they have gotten public service announcements onto the screens of some central Arkansas movie theatres, Donate Life graphics and links to a national registry for donors on the websites of Cornerstone Pharmacy and a health app development company, and stories from donor recipients and their families on a Facebook page.
Heldenbrand said he and the student volunteers expect to know by late May whether they’ve been successful in winning the challenge award for a second time.
For more information or to register as a donor, go to: www.donatelifearkansas.org
Stephanie F. Gardner, PharmD, EdD – elected as President of ACPE
UAMS-Developed Foot Therapy Cream Reaches Walmart Stores in Seven States
LITTLE ROCK – Omnibalm Daily Foot Therapy, a cream for general and diabetic foot care developed by Bill Gurley, Ph.D., a College of Pharmacy pharmaceutical sciences professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), is now available in 121 Walmart stores across seven states.
Omnibalm Daily Foot Therapy is a non-greasy formula that softens and helps repair dry, cracked skin and keeps feet healthy and shoes smelling fresh. It is marketed by Balm Innovations LLC, a UAMS BioVentures startup company licensed to take UAMS inventions from laboratories to the marketplace.
Omnibalm can be found in the diabetic sections of many Walmart Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, and Discount Stores in Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
Gurley’s inspiration for the cream came as the result of his own severe sunburn 27 years ago. His research led him to tea tree oil, which comes from Australia’s Melaleuca tree and has a long history as an effective treatment for many skin maladies.
“If you dig through the medical literature, tea tree oil has a lot of unique medicinal properties,” Gurley said. “It has natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. And it also acts as a skin permeation enhancer, which allows skin cells to absorb it more quickly.”
Lydia Carson, president and CEO of Balm Innovations, learned of the cream while enrolled in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Executive M.B.A. program. Her own experience with the cream and the testimonials of others convinced her that it was a good business opportunity.
“We gave it to our friends and it worked on everybody; everybody loved it,” Carson said. “Even the skeptical people loved it. That’s when we realized it had to be out there in stores.”
As a UAMS BioVentures startup company, Balm Innovations has a license to market the cream, while a percentage of profits go back to UAMS and the inventor. Omnibalm is undergoing a clinical trial for use in preventing recurrent diabetic foot ulcers. More information can be found at Omnibalm.com.
In his 24 years at UAMS, Gurley has established himself as the nation’s foremost expert on the herb-drug interactions and the dangers of ephedra. His research, court testimony and national media exposure helped lead to the 2004 FDA ban on ephedra-based supplements.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has more than 2,865 students and 785 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com.