TRI announced today that four UAMS researchers have been awarded pilot grants of up to $50,000 each to help improve health services through the implementation of  evidence-based medical practices.

The awards are made to projects with the strongest likelihood of leading to improved health and health care.

Implementation science is the study of methods to promote the systematic uptake of research findings and other evidence-based practices into routine practice to improve the quality and effectiveness of health services.

The awardees are:

Emily Kocurek, M.D., Assistant Professor, Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine; “Implementation of a UAMS Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT) with Expansion to a Statewide Arkansas Pulmonary Embolism Response Tele-Network.”

Debopam Samanta, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine; Chief, Child Neurology (Interim), Arkansas Children’s Hospital and UAMS; “Qualitative Assessment of Stigma Experience and Self-Management of Epilepsy in the African-American Population and Implementation of an Adapted Booster Telehealth Intervention.”

Taren Swindle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Research and Evaluation Division, and Department of Pediatrics, Developmental Nutrition, College of Medicine; Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UAMS College of Public Health; “Assessing the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Virtual Approach to De-implementation of Inappropriate Feeding Practices in Early Care and Education”

Aravindhan Veerapandiyan, M.D., Assistant Professor, Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine; “Psychological Health in Children with Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy.” 

In this issue we highlight two COVID-19 research studies supported by NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) grants. Researchers at the UAMS Northwest Campus hope their grant can help prevent a repeat of last spring, when COVID-19 washed through local Marshallese and Latinx communities like a tsunami. Researchers at the UAMS College of Public Health are part of another RADx study that includes institutions from five states and focuses on individuals with a history of incarceration and low-income Latinx communities.

We also name our five new 2021 Implementation Science scholars and two awardees of mini-grants for underrepresented faculty researchers. Our Study of the Month features Ryan Dare, M.D., who is leading the Phase 3 Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV-1 IM) trial.  Read The TRIbune.

As part of her UAMS job, Sharon Martin talks to many Arkansans who are struggling, but a recent call with an elderly Little Rock woman was different.

Martin, based at the UAMS East Regional Campus in Helena-West Helena, works as a research coordinator for the UAMS Rural Research Network within the Translational Research Institute, contacting potential research participants. On Nov. 4, she was calling prospects about a UAMS diabetes study when one of the contacts revealed her dire situation.

The woman, who declined to be identified publicly, told Martin that she and her two dogs were freezing and began to cry. Martin learned that she was without insulin for her diabetes, that her home’s gas had been shut off due to a leak she could not afford to fix, and that she was hungry, with no way to cook or heat food. She was also grieving, having recently lost her husband and mother.

“I run across many people to help, but this one really tugged at my heartstrings, and she was in an unsafe situation,” Martin said.

Given the urgency, she immediately contacted local resources in central Arkansas to assist. A friend helped get the woman’s insulin supply restored at a low monthly cost, and one of Martin’s many former foster children who lives in central Arkansas provided food, a microwave, and a space heater while a local contractor fixed her gas leak at no cost.

Martin has traveled to Little Rock twice to see her, once with her local 4H chapter the day before Thanksgiving. She continues to check on her twice a week by phone.

Her actions did not go unnoticed; she got a surprise visit Thursday from Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, who presented her with the UAMS MVP Award.

Becky Hall, Ed.D., center director at the UAMS East Regional Campus, said Martin’s big heart is no surprise to her.  

“She is one of the very most caring, loving, and action-oriented people I have ever met,” Hall said. “She always puts the needs of others before her own, many times spending her hard-earned money to help someone in need.”

Hall said Martin also identified a single dad of a young girl who did not have any food in his house.

“We helped gather food, and Sharon rallied our staff to pitch in to buy his little girl a coat, several outfits, shoes, a backpack, and toiletries,” Hall said. “She is an amazing lady.”

“Compassion is a core value of UAMS and its employees,” Patterson said in his announcement about Martin. “Thank you, Sharon, for putting such heart into your work and caring for others like you do.”

Martin will be recognized in several ways as January’s MVP. Her photo will be posted on the Employee Appreciation Wall outside the Chancellor’s Suite in the Central Building. She will receive free parking for a month. She will be featured in a Faces of UAMS video and receive some great UAMS swag. She will also be presented with a certificate and monetary award at an upcoming UAMS cabinet meeting and will be honored at the year-end MVP luncheon.

The November-December issue of The TRIbune reports on the important contributions to national COVID-19 research platforms made by Fred Prior, Ph.D., and Ahmad Baghal, M.D., Ph.D., through their TRI-supported biomedical informatics programs.

We also report on a NCATS/CTSA award to Hari Eswaran, Ph.D., enabling telehealth research that could improve maternal health for rural Arkansas women. Our Study of the Month features Allen Sherman, Ph.D., who used the ARresearch registry to conduct a COVID-19-related survey of Arkansans. Read The TRIbune

TRI and the UAMS Center for Implementation Research (CIR) have selected five UAMS-based and Arkansas Children’s Hospital clinical faculty as UAMS 2021 Implementation Science Scholars. Using the principles of implementation science, CIR faculty will guide the scholars through 10 didactic sessions per year and provide oversight and mentoring for their experiential implementation science projects. The two-year program will provide 20% salary support (up to salary cap). 

The scholars and their project titles are:

Laura Jean Hobart-Porter, D.O., Assistant Professor, Developmental Pediatrics and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Division (ACH), and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (UAMS); Medical Director, Spinal Cord Disorders Program, Concussion Clinic, and Children’s Rehabilitation Center (Easter Seals of Arkansas), Department of Pediatrics, ACH/UAMS College of Medicine“Prevention of Sleep-Associated Mortality through Implementation of ‘Guidelines for the Care of People with Spina Bifida’”

Kyle J. Kalkwarf, M.D. Assistant Professor, Acute Care Surgery Division Department of General Surgery and Critical Care; UAMS College of Medicine
“Implementation of Combined Strategies to Reduce Opioid Consumption for Acute Pain in the Surgical ICU at UAMS”

Riley Lipschitz, M.D., Assistant Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine
“TelePrEP – Utilizing Technology to Prevent HIV and Improve Health Equity among Vulnerable Arkansans”

Elizabeth Riley, D.N.P., RNC-NIC, CNE, Clinical Assistant Professor, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, UAMS College of Nursing
“Implementation of Standardized Bedside Interprofessional Rounds in Neonatal Intensive Care”

Aravindhan Veerapandiyan, M.D., Assistant Professor, Director, Comprehensive Neuromuscular Program; Medical Director, Headache Clinic, Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, ACH/UAMS College of Medicine
“Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice to Improve Care for Children with Headaches”

Robin Liston, M.P.H., has joined the UAMS Translational Research Institute as executive director.

Liston was previously assistant administrative director at Frontiers: University of Kansas Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Kansas City, Kansas.

As executive director, Liston oversees all TRI staff and services to UAMS researchers and will serve as a liaison to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsor for the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

“After an extensive search with many excellent candidates, we are excited to have Robin as part of our team,” said TRI Director Laura James, M.D. “Robin’s diverse skillset developed over the last 18 years in research management helped set her apart. Her proven leadership within a CTSA Program will ensure the highest degree of efficiency and professionalism in our delivery of resources and services to all UAMS-affiliated investigators.”

The Translational Research Institute is supported by NIH/NCATS CTSA UL1 TR003107.

LITTLE ROCK – Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will use a $228,000 federal grant to test telehealth as a way to improve Arkansas’ death rate among pregnant women, which ranks fifth nationally.

Led by UAMS’ Hari Eswaran, Ph.D., the research team will focus on remote health monitoring of pregnant women in rural areas with few health providers or resources. The goal is to determine if remote health monitoring can improve care for rural pregnant women with high blood pressure.

The one-year grant is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The funding was awarded as a supplement to UAMS’ NCATS-funded Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA).

Laura James, M.D., is principal investigator of the CTSA and director of the UAMS Translational Research Institute, whose work is supported by the five-year, $24.2 million award UL1 TR003107.

Statistics show that Arkansas has 44.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births annually. The national average is 29.6 deaths.

The team will recruit 50 pregnant women to test whether patient care can be improved using the combined systems of:

• Telemedicine via interactive video with UAMS maternal-fetal specialists
• Remote health monitoring (for example, blood pressure rates shared electronically from participants’ homes)
• The UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation Call Center. The study’s remote patient monitoring system will become part of the institute’s existing rural telemedicine clinic and call center model for monitoring blood pressure in pregnancy.

“This is a critical health issue for us,” said Eswaran, a professor in the College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “No other developed countries have maternal mortality rates as high as Arkansas, and we know that lack of access to care is a significant factor.”

In the United States, severe maternal illness is on the rise, affecting about 52,000 pregnant women at delivery every year. According to a CDC report, the severe maternal illness rate during delivery increased almost 200% from 1993 to 2014. This increase is caused by increased rates of blood transfusion, acute renal (kidney) failure, respiratory (breathing) distress syndrome and cardiac (heart) disease.

Severe maternal illnesses are expected to continue to grow because women are becoming pregnant later in life, increasing pre-pregnancy obesity, pre-existing chronic medical conditions and cesarean deliveries, Eswaran said. Rates are also much higher among minority women and women from rural areas. Likewise, maternal death rates are higher for racial minorities and poorer populations.

“By identifying these at-risk women early in their pregnancy, we can potentially help provide timely medical care using telehealth technology,” Eswaran said. “This would help prevent illness and death, shorten hospital stays and reduce health care costs.”

A UAMS-community partnership has garnered two grants for community and backyard gardens and energy efficiency projects.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded a one-year $100,000 grant for developing a network of gardens to improve access to local foods for low-income communities of color in central Arkansas. The grant will also fund education programs and initiatives to promote urban agriculture, and will be evaluated by the UAMS Office of Community-Based Public Health.

Another $10,000 was awarded by Climate Reality to increase sustainability through backyard gardens and energy efficiency.

The grants resulted from a partnership that involves the College of Public Health Office of Community-Based Public Health, the Translational Research Institute Community Engagement Program, and community partner Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light. Other partners include the University of Arkansas Business Innovations Clinic and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Farm to School Program.

TRI Community Engagement Program Manager Rachel Hale worked with Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light’s Jimmy Parks, Dr.P.H., garden manager and Scharmel Roussel, executive director, to develop plans and apply for project funding.

The funding, which will provide volunteer and part-time internship opportunities for UAMS students , was applauded by Kate Stewart, M.D., director of the Office of Community-Based Public Health in the College of Public Health, and director of the Translational Research Institute’s Community Engagement Program.

“These exciting projects will engage our students as volunteers in their community gardens,” Stewart said. “It will also help them evaluate projects they are doing with community members to increase the use of backyard gardens.”

Projects will be focused in low-income central Arkansas communities of color living with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, especially the elderly, children, and veterans with high rates of food insecurity, high rates of chronic illness, and disproportionately high utility bills.

Activities to improve food security and help communities adapt to a changing climate will include:

• Supporting community members in starting and maintaining backyard gardens and increasing access to energy efficient items and information.
• Providing education about plant-rich diets, importance of local food, climate change and health, and energy conservation.
• Supporting existing community gardens to provide excess food to the UAMS 12th Street Health and Wellness Center and other food pantries.
• Mentoring youth and young adults interested in becoming urban farmers.

This month’s TRIbune newsletter features the new Rural Research Network, an intra-institutional partnership that leverages the infrastructure of UAMS Regional Programs and its regional campuses.

The network will help TRI meet its mission of helping UAMS more effectively address chronic health conditions among rural underrepresented populations.

Read The TRIbune