In the June-July issue of The TRIbune, we spotlight how TRI’s T32 Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HSIE) training positioned Stephen Shrum, Ph.D., to land a key leadership role with a UAMS research team and startup company developing a potential radiation protection drug.

This issue also highlights an effort by TRI’s Community Engagement Core to cultivate partnerships with Garland County community organizations and leaders.

We also include information about our 2025 Annual Report, the TRI Summer Writing Challenge, and the new cohort of K12 Mentored Research Career Development Scholars.

Read The TRIbune. 

Henry Palfrey, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), and his business startup team, PulseArk Technologies, reached the semifinals and earned a Best Presentation Award in the Bangkok Business Challenge, one of the world’s leading student startup competitions.

Palfrey is a third-year postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of John D. Imig, Ph.D., and a trainee in the UAMS Translational Research Institute’s T32 Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HSIE) Training Program.

The event, held May 22-24 at the Sasin School of Management in Thailand, marked a milestone for PulseArk and its five-member team.

“The competition in Bangkok gave us valuable feedback and momentum as we continue advancing VoluSense toward market entry,” Palfrey said, referring to the startup’s device designed for the early detection of internal bleeding — often before changes in traditional vital signs occur. The technology is being developed and tested through a collaboration between engineers at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and medical professionals at UAMS.

“It’s one thing to develop promising science but quite another to translate it to the clinic,” said Palfrey, PulseArk’s chief technology officer. “This experience reinforced our progress on both fronts.”

Selected from over 300 applicants representing 82 institutions across 16 countries, PulseArk was one of only 20 teams invited to the semifinals—and one of just four from the United States.

In Imig’s lab, Palfrey investigates radiation-induced kidney injuries and explores pharmacotherapeutic strategies on how to mitigate such injuries. As part of the two-year HSIE fellowship, he completed a year-long New Venture Development course at UA’s Sam M. Walton College of Business, where students build startups around innovative technologies — an experience that led Palfrey to join PulseArk Technologies.

VoluSense’s development is supported by a $1.9 million grant awarded in 2024 by the Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. The project is led by principal investigator Morten Jensen, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering at UA. Hanna Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Surgery, is overseeing the device’s translational and clinical phases. Co-investigators Jingxian Wu, Ph.D., and Robert Saunders, Ph.D., both faculty members in electrical engineering at UA, round out the research and development team.

The device is designed to detect subtle changes in blood volume by analyzing venous pressure waveforms. Using proprietary algorithms, these waveforms are converted into a blood loss score that indicates the presence or absence of hemorrhage. This approach enables clinicians and first responders to identify bleeding earlier than current methods allow.

The technology is protected by two pending U.S. patents, and PulseArk currently holds exclusive development rights granted by BioVentures LLC at UAMS.

Since last fall, the PulseArk team has competed in several pitch competitions, including the 2025 Ivey Business Plan Competition at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada; the 2025 Heartland Startup Challenge in Bentonville, Arkansas, where they took first place in the elevator pitch event; and the final round of the 2025 Arkansas Governor’s Cup in Little Rock.

The team’s next steps include finalizing the prototype and initiating preclinical studies this summer, while also securing additional seed funding to support product development, Palfrey said. PulseArk plans to begin pilot deployments in Arkansas hospitals in preparation for a targeted market launch in 2028.

“Entrepreneurship training gave me the toolkit to navigate regulatory, financial and clinical challenges all at once,” Palfrey said. “Now we’re applying those lessons.”

“Dr. Palfrey and the PulseArk team have demonstrated extraordinary vision and determination in bringing global recognition to this technology,” said Imig, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy and director of the T32 program. “Their success in Bangkok is a testament to their innovation and teamwork, and it highlights the impact of their interdisciplinary training.”

Other members of the PulseArk team include BreeAnna Scott, chief executive officer and current M.S. candidate in biomedical engineering, as well as recent UA graduates Victoria Bourgeois, MBA, chief strategy officer; Asha Lee, M.S., chief financial officer; and Tanner Moore, M.S., chief product officer.

The Translational Research Institute’s T32 program is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Clinical and Translational Science Award #T32 TR004918.

The Translational Research Institute (TRI) is proud to share its 2025 Annual Report, a magazine-style publication emphasizing the impact of translational science to improve lives in Arkansas and beyond. This year’s issue spotlights the researchers, programs and partnerships that are speeding the pace of discovery with tangible health benefits.

The report includes examples of consequential research by TRI’s K12 graduates addressing unmet needs, implementation of life-changing medical practices, and machine-learning and other advances to benefit rural health research. You’ll also read about exciting new opportunities for research available through TRI’s partnerships with elite research networks across the United States. 

Browse the full report here to learn how TRI is supporting innovative research across the translational spectrum.

Trenesha Hill, Ph.D., wanted to ensure that she and her mentees weren’t talking past each other, so she signed up for TRI’s “Entering Mentoring” workshop, which uses an evidence-based approach developed by the University of Wisconsin’s Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER).

“I attended to enhance my mentoring practices and make a positive impact on my mentees’ development,” said Hill, an assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Division of Psychology. “The practical tools, like communication‑style assessments and personalized mentorship contracts, will help me set clear expectations.”

Held in April, the workshop drew 16 faculty from across UAMS and was led by five CIMER-certified UAMS facilitators:

• Antiño Allen, Ph.D., professor, College of Pharmacy and TRI associate director of Pathway Initiatives
• Jennifer Vincenzo, Ph.D., MPH, PT, associate professor, College of Health Professions
• Corey Hayes, Pharm.D., Ph.D., MPH, associate professor, College of Pharmacy
• Ellen van der Plas, Ph.D., associate professor, College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics
• Tuhin Virmani, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, College of Medicine Department of Neurology

Participants engaged in modules on building trust, effective communication, aligning expectations, goal setting, progress monitoring and navigating challenges, all grounded in CIMER’s evidence‑based, interactive mentor training curriculum.

Van der Plas was invited to facilitate after demonstrating her enthusiasm and skill in prior trainings. “CIMER engages participants rather than lecturing about best practices,” she said. “It encourages conversations about mentoring and adapting the tools provided. Mentorship has been invaluable in my career, teaching skills, modeling behaviors, and advocating for me, and I aim to pay that forward.”

Hayes highlighted the workshop’s lasting influence: “Mentoring is the role we play in academia that has the most long‑lasting effect. Using collaboration and real‑world vignettes makes CIMER tangible and easily implemented in daily mentoring activities. I hope participants walk away with tools they can use every day with their mentees.”

For Gunnar Boysen, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, the workshop filled a crucial gap. “Mentorship, leadership and communication training weren’t part of my Ph.D. curriculum in chemistry,” he said. “CIMER was the perfect opportunity to beef up on these skills. In the end, I realized I need to be a better listener and to build my own mentoring team.”

As lead facilitator, Allen emphasized how the CIMER training can greatly improve mentoring practices.

“This evidence-based curriculum provides mentors with tools to build trust, align expectations and communicate clearly, which ultimately strengthens relationships and helps accelerate research translation,” he said.

Four early-career researchers have been selected to receive two years of funded translational research training and support in the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI) K12 Mentored Research Career Development Scholar Awards Program.

The promising researchers were selected for the 2025-2027 program period through a competitive application process. Beginning July 1, the K12 scholars will receive two years of mentored translational research training, 75% salary support and up to $25,000 a year for research, tuition, travel and education.

The scholars, their project titles and primary mentors are:

Meghan Breckling, Pharm.D., assistant professor, College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Practice and Center for Implementation Research

Project: “Improving Opioid Education and Naloxone Use in Rural Community Pharmacies”

Primary mentor: Benjamin Teeter, Ph.D., Pharm.D., associate professor, College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Practice and Center for Implementation Research

Maegan Calvert, Ph.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC)

Project: “Neural Patterns of Affect in Parent-Child Interactions”

Primary mentor: Andrew James, Ph.D., professor, Department of Psychiatry, interim director, BIRC

Mokarram Hossain, Ph.D., assistant professor, College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Project: “Novel Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer: Extracellular Matrix-Targeting Myeloid Engager”

Primary mentor: Alan Tackett, Ph.D., professor, College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry

Whitney Norris, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, College of Nursing Department of Nursing Research

Project: “Multivariate Coherence Neurofeedback for Trauma Treatment: A Mechanistic and Feasibility Pilot Trial Using High-Density EEG”

Primary mentor: Linda Larson-Prior, Ph.D., professor, College of Medicine Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Science

Funding for the K12 scholars program comes from TRI, supported by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Clinical and Translational Science Awards K12 TR004924 and UM1 TR004909, the UAMS College of Medicine, Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System.

This month’s TRIbune newsletter highlights the recent TRI AI Research Symposium, which featured UAMS artificial intelligence innovations presented by research leaders in the field and with enthusiastic support from College of Medicine Dean Steven A. Webber, MBChB, MRCP. You’ll also read how the symposium helped inspire an AI approach to the work of two UAMS researchers: Gwen Childs, Ph.D., and Melanie MacNicol, Ph.D.   

Our TRI Study of the Month features Leah Tobey-Moore, PT, DPT, MBA, an assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry whose research is supported by a TRI pilot grant and is assisted by TRI’s Anja Rassman, B.S.N., RN, CCR, and Lisa Richardson, RN, CRS.  

This issue also includes a story about TRI’s three new T32 Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship postdoctoral fellow trainees: Meaghan Kingren, Ph.D., Carol Morris, Ph.D. candidate, and Quinshell Smith, Ph.D.

Read The TRIbune.

UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, recently visited the hospital lobby to thank researchers and clinical trial participants during UAMS’ Clinical Trials Day celebration, emphasizing the critical role that clinical trials play in advancing patient care.

“Clinical trials are designed to determine whether we are treating patients better or not,” Patterson told staff and visitors gathered in the lobby on Tuesday, May 20. “It’s kind of the last step in all the hard work that gets done in research to finally bring it to the bedside.”

UAMS research departments staffed information tables from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the hospital lobby, offering free food, beverages and giveaways to patients and employees. Research staff from the Translational Research Institute, Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Office of Research Regulatory Affairs, Office of Research Compliance and the Institutional Review Board participated in the celebration.

Clinical Trials Day is observed worldwide on or near May 20 each year, commemorating the first randomized clinical trial that began May 20, 1747, and discovered that citrus fruit could prevent scurvy in sailors. The day recognizes clinical research professionals and volunteer participants for their contributions to medical advances achieved through clinical trials.

Patterson acknowledged the extensive work required to conduct clinical trials, from enrolling patients to completing regulatory approvals. “The work that we do to enroll patients in clinical trials, convince them of the extra work that they need to do to get involved in it, the regulatory work, the approvals that have to happen — it’s an awful lot of work, but it’s so  important,” he said.

Patterson praised trial participants and their families, noting their willingness to take on additional responsibilities for the benefit of medical research. “I hope that you thank the patients who are getting enrolled in clinical trials and their families for the work that they do,” he said.

In addition to the snacks and beverages, research staff provided information about clinical trials conducted at UAMS. 

UAMS conducts medical research across multiple areas, testing a range of new therapies including drugs and medical devices. Clinical trials at UAMS offer Arkansans access to experimental cutting-edge treatments before they become widely available.

“This really is a critical step and why we are at UAMS and not somewhere else,” Patterson said.

UAMS College of Medicine Dean Steven A. Webber, MBChB, MRCP, joined other UAMS leaders and researchers April 29 for the Translational Research Institute (TRI) AI Research Symposium, highlighting the use of artificial intelligence in biomedical research

“Many of our faculty are already leading the way in several areas of AI-driven research, and that’s clearly something we want to see at UAMS,” Webber said in his welcome address.

The symposium was led by Fred Prior, Ph.D., distinguished professor and chair of the College of Medicine Department of Biomedical Informatics, and Mathias Brochhausen, Ph.D., professor and vice chair for Academic Programs and Faculty Development in the Department of Biomedical Informatics. Prior also leads TRI’s Comprehensive Informatics Resource Core and Brochhausen is TRI’s associate director for Strategic Collaborations.

“It’s a great opportunity to share with you some of the research that we are doing in this field,” Prior said. “We use AI tools every day; we develop new ones, and we’re helping UAMS learn how to use these technologies to advance clinical practice and biomedical research.”

Webber, also UAMS executive vice chancellor, said that AI is now touching almost every facet of health care, including research, diagnostics, risk prediction, clinical documentation, medical education and revenue cycle enhancement.

“We have to embrace these changes and make them work for us in a positive way,” he said.

The three-hour symposium drew over 50 attendees and featured presentations by:

Yasir Rahmatallah, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics
Parkinson’s Disease Identification by Voice Assessment Using Pre-trained CNN

Jonathan Bona, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics
AI and Natural Language Processing

Aaron Kemp, MBA (Ph.D. candidate), co-director, NeuroCognitive Dynamics Lab; instructor, Department of Biomedical Informatics
Using Artificial Neural Networks to Mine for Markers of Abnormal Neural Network Activity among People with Parkinson’s Disease

Webber praised the research integration involving biomedical Informatics, clinical informatics and the clinical and translational science infrastructure provided by TRI.

“We have to continue to further strengthen that integration so that the AI research that’s going on here starts to directly impact the health of our patients that we serve, and I know we are poised to do that,” he said. 

Wendy Ward, Ph.D., professor and associate provost for faculty with UAMS Academic Affairs, described how AI is benefiting UAMS across its missions.

Examples include clinical tools that can draft Epic inbox responses, recommend assessments and diagnoses, generate discharge summaries and optimize billing codes. On the education front, she said UAMS has trained 100 educators in interactive AI modules, launched a journal club and student AI club and is developing a generative-AI course.

Both Prior and Ward touted the Department of Biomedical Informatics’ Creative Health AI (CHAI) Salon, an incubator of open-session workshops to develop AI solutions and collaborations. It has already produced two grant proposals and a Nature-Scientific Reports publication. A continuing medical education course on AI fundamentals is also in the works.

The symposium also included Prior’s call to action for cleaning, standardizing and curating research data to prevent “garbage in, garbage out.”

Brochhausen added that machine learning is even more powerful when combined with ontologies.

“Ontologies organize and translate information and provide an enterprise-wide vocabulary, very much like a data dictionary, but with the added power to manage that dictionary automatically, prevent contradictions, and support integration, reasoning and explainable AI,” he said.

Prior warned that “garbage in, garbage out applies even more forcefully in the world of AI,” noting that algorithms require vast quantities of high-quality, well-labeled data to train effectively.

Near the symposium’s conclusion, Prior announced that UAMS is building the legal and technical framework to offer researchers the use of large-language AI models that ensure patient data never leaves UAMS firewalls.

“If you give your data to a large language model on the Internet, it will happily reuse that data,” he said. “If it’s patient data, you’re spreading it all over the planet. Not a good thing.”

He hopes to roll out an upgraded model capable of handling images and text by summer, with hands-on training available in the fall.

TRI Director Laura James, M.D., praised Prior and Brochhausen for leading the symposium and for making it accessible to a broad audience. 

“I’m excited about where UAMS is with artificial intelligence and the things that will be developed in the near future,” she said.  

“Let me start by telling you a story,” Ankita Shukla, M.D., told the TRI Research Day audience before briefly weaving a narrative of a new mother’s fears and how they relates to her research. Her opening was a technique she learned in TRIumph, TRI’s new communications training that helps scientists explain their work to general audiences.

Nine early‑career K12 Mentored Research Career Development Award Program scholars completed the TRIumph training this year, led by Julien Mirivel, Ph.D., from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Three of the scholars — Shukla, Lauren Appell, M.D., and Brian Piccolo, Ph.D., —  used their newly honed skills to deliver engaging talks at Research Day. View their presentations here: https://youtu.be/faeDeJnoiPw.

TRIumph focuses on two main pillars: “macro‑structure,” or how presenters organize material, and delivery techniques such as voice, eye contact and movement that foster audience connection, said Mirivel, a professor of applied communication, book author and professional speaker.

“Public speaking is not about transmitting information,” he said. “It’s about connecting with your audience.”

Shukla, an associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Neonatal‑Perinatal Medicine, illustrated that principle in presenting her K12 project PERFORM: Persistent Effects of Intrauterine Growth Restriction on Infant Brain Development. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, her study compares neural patterns in infants born small for their gestational age. After her opening story, she guided listeners through the science with clear explanations and analogies.

“The training changed the way I will deliver presentations from here on,” Shukla said. “Even if I don’t give all the scientific nitty‑gritty, I’ll make sure I engage my audience with my passion. If I’m passionate and excited, they will be, too.”

Lauren Appell, an assistant professor of pediatric hematology/oncology, admitted she once dreaded public speaking. “I hate speaking in public,” she confessed. Her project, Stronger All: A Strength & Outpatient Exercise Regimen for Children with Newly Diagnosed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, tests whether structured exercise can improve treatment tolerance and quality of life.

Through TRIumph’s practice sessions, first a three‑minute elevator pitch, then an eight‑ to 10‑minute talk, Appell said she gained confidence.

“Practice made me more confident for something that can be very intimidating,” she said. “I’m sold; I’m all in. It’s a really effective way to engage and communicate important things.”

Piccolo, an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, said the most valuable technique he learned was how to structure his presentations.

“This framework limited my presentation to three major elements that helped me effectively communicate my research to a diverse audience at Research Day,” said Piccolo, who is also associate director of the Biostatistics and Data Innovation Team at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center. “With this framework, I can avoid a data deluge and ensure that I have concise points that will keep an audience engaged and interested.”

Members of TRI’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) praised the scholars’ clarity on Research Day. The Rev. Willie Wade, founder of Difference Makers of Hot Springs, said the presentations “broke down an important barrier between scientists and the communities they aim to help. We need the community involved in research since they are the most impacted by the outcome.”

Prior to Research Day, the nine K12 scholars presented to community members who provided official critiques of their talks. Among them was Victoria Akins, a TRI Community Scientist Academy graduate who served as a grant reviewer and advisory‑board member.

“The presentations were very clear and understandable, especially after the question‑and‑answer section,” she said. Akins suggested allowing questions after each presentation and encouraged scholars to “give a little more information about what sparked their interest and what they envision the long‑term impact to be.”

Esther Dixon, executive director of Diamonds in the Rough of Hot Springs and a TRI CAB member, said the presenters on Research Day “used key points that were relatable and spoke on a level that everyone, whether you were a scientist or community member, could understand, and left you eager to learn more about their work.”

TRI is assessing TRIumph’s impact with pre‑ and post‑training surveys and presentation evaluations to document improvements in structure, language and delivery.

Editor’s note: We have updated our Research Day 2025 coverage to include videos. Please see links below.

Spanning two days for the first time, TRI Research Day 2025 showcased advancements in translational science with a focus on harnessing clinical data in Arkansas and across the United States.

Day 1 featured a keynote by Elizabeth A. Shenkman, Ph.D., who discussed leveraging OneFlorida+’s data network containing information on 28 million patients for clinical trials (https://youtu.be/CaNNwb4Y574). Day 2 shifted the focus to community engagement and maternal health, highlighted by a keynote from Sharla Smith, Ph.D., addressing challenges and opportunities in improving maternal care outcomes.

Attended by 169 UAMS faculty, staff, trainees and community partners, TRI Research Day on April 10–11 highlighted how translational science — powered by large‑scale data networks and community engagement — can accelerate the pace of discovery.

DAY 1
With the theme “Integrating Data to Further Translational Science,” this day included a poster session and oral presentations by TRI-supported early-career researcher trainees and pilot awardees. The day was capped by Shenkman’s keynote, in which she described the many ways that data linkages across the U.S. through OneFlorida+ PCORnet, which includes UAMS, is powering impactful biomedical research.

Shenkman is professor and chair of the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics and co-director of the University of Florida Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

She also highlighted OneFlorida+ key linkages: birth and death certificates, Medicaid and state Children’s Health Insurance Program claims, prenatal screening, environmental exposome data, social determinants of health, and adverse events. Tumor registry and biospecimen data also offer cancer research possibilities, while monthly data uploads ensure timeliness.

“OneFlorida+ is an exceptional data repository,” she said, noting that UAMS investigators can query aggregate data and obtain site‑specific cohorts.

A hallmark of OneFlorida+ PCORnet, Shenkman noted, is the ability to re‑identify patients with IRB approval, a critical feature for clinical trials conducted in real-world settings, also known as pragmatic trials. “That is really important for carrying out pragmatic clinical trials,” she said, emphasizing that UAMS could leverage the network to recruit diverse cohorts and streamline study enrollment.

After her presentation, Shenkman encouraged UAMS to capitalize on its multidisciplinary strengths. “UAMS has a really diverse faculty in terms of their multidisciplinary training and backgrounds,” she said. “You have great clinicians and great biomedical informaticians. Bringing all that talent together to work with the data and apply for PCORI grants will lead to new and novel ways to address our country’s pressing health care issues.”

Her talk was followed by a demonstration by a panel of data experts on how to navigate the process of accessing and leveraging data for a potential study on congenital syphilis. With TRI Director Laura James, M.D., serving as moderator, the panel introduced the Arkansas All Payer Claims Database at the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) and highlighted how state insurance claims data can complement resources like electronic health records data from UAMS or Arkansas Children’s Hospital available through ARLife, a program in development by TRI.

Shenkman joined the panel, whose members included:

• Kenley Money, MFA, director of Information System Architecture at ACHI
• Nichole Stanely, Ph.D., director of Analytics at ACHI
• Pele Yu, M.D., chief medical information officer at Arkansas Children’s and professor of pediatrics, biomedical informatics and public health.

Day 2
Community-Engaged Research Takes Center Stage on Day 2

Day 2 of TRI Research Day spotlighted the power of community engagement in improving health outcomes, with a focus on maternal health. The day opened with a compelling keynote by Sharla Smith, Ph.D., founder of the Kansas Birth Equity Network (KBEN), who is working to reduce maternal mortality through grassroots partnerships and translational science.

With the theme “Community Engaged Research Day: Impacting Community Health through Translational Science,” the day also included:

• Presentations from three early-career K12 scholars who participated in TRIumph, TRI’s scientific communications training, to help them explain their research to a general audience.
• Roundtable discussions led by TRI community partners who received research training and seed funding.
• A panel discussion about Arkansas’ maternal health challenges.

Smith, a graduate of the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, is leading an NIH-funded study aimed at improving clinical care for pregnancy-related hypertension and preeclampsia.

Healthy Blue, a Medicaid-supported health plan, is also providing mini grants totaling $50,000 to grassroots KBEN members and organizations working to address gaps in maternal, paternal and infant health.

The network engages over 160 members in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas. “We meet bimonthly on Zoom with parents, doulas, midwives, health organization leaders, researchers and physicians. Everyone’s at the table trying to find solutions,” Smith said.

The Day 2 roundtable discussions (https://youtu.be/MJFySV5f5w8) allowed attendees to hear from the leaders of three community-based organizations who participated in TRI’s six-month training Community Partners Educated as Arkansas Research Leaders (CPEARL), which is led by the institute’s Community Engagement Core. In addition to learning how to conduct research that would benefit their organization, they each received seed funding of $2,500. The organizations’ leaders gave a 10-minute overview of their work and took questions from the attendees. The organizations, presenters and use of the seed funding were:

• Women and Children First, Sarah Bradburry, New Mom and Baby Care Baskets
• Healing in the Hood, Shelly Gillespie and Sandy Gillespie, O.P.P.S. Boxing Club
• Giving. Others. Ambition. Together. (GOAT), Kelvin Parker, Building Young Champs

Since going through the training in 2022, Parker said the knowledge he gained through CPEARL has helped him grow his afterschool GOAT program for 10–12-year-olds in Little Rock from three days a week with about a dozen children to five days a week with 45-50 children.

“UAMS is where it all started,” he said of his program, which teaches key life skills. “I learned so much. I was able to get into the grant writing, find funding sources and get my name out in the community a little more, and we’ve grown rapidly.”

Research Day concluded with the 2022 documentary “Giving Birth in America: Arkansas” highlighting the challenges that Arkansas women face in accessing maternal health care, focusing on the impact of limited insurance coverage and limited access to health care in rural areas. A panel discussion followed with UAMS’ Alexandra Marshall, Ph.D., moderating. Marshall is associate professor and chair of the College of Public Health Department of Health Behavior and Health Education.

The panelists were:

• Keneshia Bryant-Moore, Ph.D., APRN, FNP-BC, professor, College of Public Health Department of Health Behavior and Health Education.
• Katy Allison, Ph.D., MPH, assistant professor, College of Public Health Department of Health Behavior and Health Education.
• Zenobia Harris, Ph.D., executive director, Arkansas Birthing Project.

Oral Presentations Highlight Work in TRI Programs

Research Day 2025 included oral presentations from eight researchers in four TRI programs, listed below with their project titles.

K12 Mentored Research Career Development Award Program Scholars

• Katy Allison, Ph.D., MPH, assistant professor, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health Department of Health Behavior and Health Education
  Remote Patient Monitoring in Pregnancy Care: Using Implementation Science to Improve Uptake and Sustainability; https://youtu.be/wvfyllKHzuc
  
• Shiloah Kviatkovsky, Ph.D., M.S., assistant professor, College of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
  Effects of Collagen Peptide Supplementation on Connective Tissue Remodeling, Functional Outcomes, and Wound Healing after Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA); https://youtu.be/LRdoDqDhZLY

T32 Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship Trainees

• Ashley Pike, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Psychiatric Research Institute, College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry
  A Quantitative Connectome Approach to Cognitive Function in MS; https://youtu.be/ts8P66IXod0
  
• Henry Palfrey, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
  VoluSense: Revolutionizing Early Bleeding Detection to Improve Uptake and Sustainability; https://youtu.be/y_D_zDjyp60

Implementation Science Scholars

• Jarna Shah, M.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine Department of Anesthesiology
  Implementation of Perioperative Nutrition Screening; https://youtu.be/ogH_VzdZzas
  
• Stephen Foster, M.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine Department of Family and Preventive Medicine
  Improving Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Management in Primary Care; https://youtu.be/EqZUrSOI658

Pilot Awardees

• Laura Hays, Ph.D., APRN, associate professor, College of Nursing
  Is it Time to Let Go? Issues of Control: A Patient-Mediated Health Information Exchange Leveraging Family Health Histories and Genomic Information; https://youtu.be/GGCrMd1GGhY
  
• Jonathan Bona, Ph.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine Department of Biomedical Informatics
  Accelerating Insights with an Open Drug Information Toolkit; https://youtu.be/eksjLf33KB0

Research Day 2025 Poster Contest Winners

Judges selected winners from six categories in the 2025 Research Day Poster Contest, which included 24 total posters. The winning poster presenters, announced by TRI Director Laura James, M.D., are:

Best Overall Impact (tie)

Mollee Steeley Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Health and Legal System (HEALS) Lab

Exploring Parenting-Related Stress among Postpartum Mothers Receiving Medications for Opioid Use Disorder

Alicija Urbaniak, Ph.D., instructor, College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Repositioning Monensin: Enhancing Anti-Cancer Activity and Immune Modulation in Breast Cancer Cells

Best Overall Scientific Content

Nicholas Callais, M.D., surgical resident research fellow, College of Medicine Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Research

A New DNA-PKcs Inhibitor with Improved Solubility and Specificity

Best Translational Science

Katy Allison, Ph.D., MPH, assistant professor, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health Department of Health Behavior & Health Education

Implementation Determinants and Strategies for Remote Patient Monitoring in Obstetrics

Community Advisory Board Choice

Tiffany Miles, Ph.D., instructor, College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Section of Developmental Nutrition

Community Developed and implemented Obesity Intervention in Marvell, Arkansas

Best Overall Visual

Megha Sharma, M.D., associate professor, College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology

Breaking Translational Science Barriers in Neonatal Health Equity

People’s Choice Award

Alexa Escapita, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

A Longitudinal Study on the Effects of Diabetes on the Neurodevelopment of Infants