UAMS’ Career Development Scholars Program is led by John Arthur, MD, PhD, Associate Director of the Translational Research Institute; Chief of Nephrology, COM, UAMS; and Chief of Nephrology, CAVHS. Dr. Arthur is supported by program Associate Directors, Elisabet Børsheim, PhD and Mario Schootman, PhD.
Program Leadership
Dr Arthur is a physician-scientist, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Nephrology. He has extensive experience in mentoring and mentored career development awards. His research interests are in the areas of acute kidney injury, glomerular diseases and the gut microbiome. His research includes physiology, clinical trials and database analysis.
Dr. Børsheim is Professor of Pediatrics and Geriatrics. She leads the translational research team “Physical Activity, Bioenergetics and Metabolism”, and directs two research cores at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center and the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute. She has several decades of experience in studies of energy and substrate metabolism and prevention of metabolic disturbances across the lifespan.
Dr. Schootman is Professor and Vice-Chair for Mentoring and Innovation in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Co-Director of the Workforce Development Core of the Translational Research Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. His research focuses on various aspects of epidemiology using advanced epidemiological methods, including geographic information systems and multilevel models, to examine the effect of neighborhood conditions on various health outcomes. He has been the principal investigator of several NIH grants. He has mentored numerous early-career faculty.
Program Administration
Nik serves as a Program Manager where he supports TRI’s Workforce Development Programming Team. This includes assisting in the KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Scholars Awards Program, the Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Sciences Program (MS-CTS), the Translational Research Innovations and Partners Program (TRIP), the Path 2 K program, and two Recurring Seminar Series (Research Fundamentals and TRI innOVATIONS). Nik brings 8 years of managerial and customer service
experience to help support our scholars’ success. He holds a Master of Healthcare Administration Degree from the UAMS as well as a Bachelor’s in Biology from Hendrix College.
Crystal serves as TRI’s Assistant Director of Programs, where she provides administrative leadership of the KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Scholar Awards Program, the Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Sciences Program (MS-CTS), and the TRI Translational Research Innovations and Partners Program (TRIP). She brings 10+ years’ experience in administrative and fiscal leadership, including quality and process improvement, compliance, fiscal oversight, and grant and project management. She holds a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from UALR and has completed additional graduate certificate studies through UAMS and the University of South Carolina.