Newsroom

Pilot Awards to Address Health Challenges of Rural and Underrepresented Populations

The UAMS Office of Vice Chancellor (Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D.) for Research and UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI) are pleased to invite applications for a special pilot grant targeting the health challenges of rural and underrepresented populations. The purpose of this pilot grant opportunity is for faculty members to form new teams to generate data necessary to submit competitive grant proposals in response to NIH, other federal agencies, and foundation grant funding opportunities addressing the health challenges of rural and underrepresented populations.

Budgets of up to $50,000 will be considered for the one-year awards. Letters of intent are due April 26, 2019, by noon. Invited full applications will be dueMay 24, 2019.

View the Request for Applications.

Any UAMS faculty, including at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Research Institute, and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, are invited to apply.

Contact: Nia Indelicato, NLIndelicato@uams.edu, or 501-526-0363.

Key Dates:

RFA released: April 5
Letter of Intent due: April 26, by noon
Full applications invited: May 1
TRI/Biostatistics consultations: May 6-17
Proof of regulatory submission due: May 24 (include in application)
Application due: May 24, by noon
Lay videos due: May 29
Study Section: June 11
Awardees announced: June 14
Start date: June 30

The TRIbune Features UAMS Neurosurgeons’ Research

The latest TRIbune features the research of neurosurgeons J.D. Day, M.D., and Thomas W. Morris III. The co-principal investigators hope to help determine if a relatively new surgical procedure is better than standard medical management in certain cases of intracerebral hemorrhage. We also highlight the work of our Community Engagement program and its Community Scientist Academy, which has been adapted for the first time to teach students in the Little Rock School District’s Excel Program. We include news that TRI’s innovative methods for incorporating community members into the grant review process will be studied at five institutions (including UAMS) with support from the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The newsletter has our new study of the month led by Clare Nesmith, M.D., and recently cited publications by researchers who received TRI support.

Read The TRIbune

TRI Now Accepting Applications for KL2 Scholar Awards

Junior faculty, here’s your chance to jump-start your careers!

The Translational Research Institute (TRI) is now accepting applications for its KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Scholar Awards.

Letters of Intent are due April 29, 2019.
Applications are due June 10, 2019.

Benefits of the two-year program:

75 percent salary support (up to $95,000 per year)
$25,000 per year research funding
Professional development support

Eligible candidates are faculty with professional doctorates committed to academic careers in translational research.

Special for 2019, one of the four KL2 awards will go to an early-career breast cancer researcher.

More information is available on the TRI Website.

Potential applicants are encouraged to attend the KL2 Information Session on April 11 at noon in the Cancer Institute, Betsy Blass Boardroom, Room 1013. For those offsite, the session is available via Blackboard Collaborate.

For more information, please contact Nia Indelicato, NLIndelicato@uams.edu, 501-526-0363.

Apply Now for UAMS Commercialization Course – Deadline Extended to March 22

The application deadline for the second annual UAMS fastPACE Course has been extended to Friday, March 22. The 4-week biomedical commercialization course is designed for busy researchers and clinicians with an early stage project. It begins March 29.

The course was developed by FastForward Medical Innovations at the University of Michigan and is modeled after the successful National Science Foundation I-Corps program. It blends in-person and online education to help faculty researchers and clinicians learn the basic components of biomedical commercialization and prepare a successful business case for funding and development partnerships.

Enrollment is open to faculty, clinical practitioners, and post-doctoral fellows who have an early stage biomedical innovation or idea. More information and a link to the application can be found at https://bioventures.uams.edu/fastpace/. If you are a graduate or medical student interested in entrepreneurship and wish to simply join a team, please fill out the fastPACE Intake Survey, at https://bioventures.uams.edu/fastpace/intake-survey/.

Questions? Contact Nancy Gray, Ph.D., president, BioVentures LLC, nmgray@uams.edu.

The February TRIbune Newsletter

This month’s TRIbune newsletter highlights exciting developments with the TRI-supported Arkansas Clinical Data Repository (AR-CDR) team, led by Ahmad Baghal, M.D. This talented team

is making UAMS clinical data, as well as data from other institutions, more accessible to researchers.

Read The TRIbune.

TRI Helps Busy Neurosurgeon Lead Multiple Studies

Erika Petersen, M.D., saw the outlines of her career when she was just 16. As a participant in a summer research program at Duke Cancer Institute, she gained insights beyond the lab work.

“As part of the program, I got to stand beside an anesthesiologist and watch open-heart surgery,” she said. “That was the moment I knew I was interested in medicine.”

Petersen, a UAMS neurosurgeon and associate professor in the College of Medicine, also noted at the time how her Duke mentor, a breast oncologist, was able to run a research lab in addition to seeing patients.

“That helped me see a model of how doctors could do research in different ways,” she said.

Futuristic Therapies
Petersen came to UAMS in 2010 and sees patients at the Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute. Her expertise in neuromodulation is unique to the region, futuristic even, with her ability to use deep brain stimulation and implant other devices to treat movement disorders and chronic pain.

“I have a friend who jokes that I’m creating cyborgs,” she said.

She’s not, of course. But by working at the cutting edge of medicine, she can help patients who don’t respond to conventional therapies.

“When you meet people who have seen dozens of practitioners, and they come to you saying, ‘I’ve heard great things about you, can you please help me?’ you want to offer every single possibility you can,” Petersen said.

Unfortunately, some of her work isn’t covered by insurance because the procedures are still considered experimental. It’s distressing for her and her patients.

“The compassion to treat versus the business decision of coverage is frustrating, so I’m motivated to create the evidence that will remove the disconnect between the two,” she said.

Prolific PI
Although she has no protected time for research, Petersen has been a prolific principal investigator. She is overseeing two active industry-sponsored clinical trials and three more are in the works. The active studies are testing implanted nerve stimulation devices for chronic amputation pain and diabetic neuropathy. The pending studies will test devices designed for treating chronic back pain (failed back surgery syndrome), and headache pain, including migraines. Another study involves the use of stem cells for stroke patients.

Her leadership of multiple clinical trials is a lot of extra work, but it’s doable for a couple of reasons: One, she is able to blend the trials into her clinical practice, and two, she can get the clinical trial services she needs from the Translational Research Institute (TRI).

Leveraging TRI
“A single clinician with a single nurse doesn’t have the institutional context like TRI for navigating the regulatory issues, the budget negotiations, and legal negotiations,” Petersen said. “Having the team of coordinators at TRI who are backing each other up also ensures that a research participant always has support, and that’s been essential.”

TRI has also helped her promote her research to the general public. “A clinical trial is only as successful as what you can do through recruitment,” she said. “Working with TRI, we’ve done a lot in terms of media and outreach and in identifying subjects in the UAMS Epic (electronic medical record) system. So having those resources to help with recruiting is phenomenal.”

Despite her busy schedule, Petersen has appeared on four local broadcast stations to advocate for the amputation pain study and diabetic neuropathy study. Her public education efforts, which also include an active Twitter account, have contributed to her growing national reputation in the field. UAMS is among a select group of institutions chosen to conduct neuromodulation research. In fact, she said UAMS’ management of the amputation pain study will be a model used by Neuros, the sponsor, for the remaining research centers preparing for participant enrollment.

“When you have a good system and support to successfully manage the research, it leads to ongoing partnerships across multiple studies,” Petersen said.

Promise Garden Project Earns Unity Award for TRI, CAVHS

The Translational Research Institute (TRI) was named winner of the Unity Award during the UAMS 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration, sponsored by the UAMS Center for Diversity Affairs.

Representatives from TRI, CAVHS and Order of the Eastern Stars, Tariq Chapter #6 presented the donations at a recent visit to the Promise Garden.

The Unity Award celebrated the legacy of service advocated by King with a challenge to UAMS groups to partner with others on community service projects. TRI and its partner on the project, the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, were recognized for a donation drive to benefit the Promise Garden, a community garden at 12^th and Peyton streets in Little Rock. Their efforts were bolstered by participation from the women’s sorority Order of the Eastern Stars, Tariq Chapter #6.

Billy Thomas, M.D., M.P.H., vice chancellor for diversity, said the center hosts the event not just to celebrate King, but to remind the campus and the broader community that his work is still ongoing.

“In these types of celebrations, we think about all of the things that Dr. King stood for and all the things that he did. But I think we should take this opportunity to build upon his legacy and leave this celebration with the idea that we can do things, not only individually but as an institution, to accomplish that,” he said.

The event included remarks from UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, as well as a keynote address from Tracey Steele, the first executive director of the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and a former state senator who is now the director of the Health Services Permit Agency.

Steele praised UAMS as a leader in diversity, and challenged staff and students to continue to lead the way.

“Here at UAMS you are a shining example,” he said. “I’m so proud of this institution. I brag on it everywhere I go. I tell people from all over the world of the health care they can receive at this institution. But even when you’re the best, it’s time to step it up. Because you can be even a greater example of what is right.”

In his remarks, Chancellor Patterson said he’s influenced by King in three ways: his urging to do the right thing and avoid doing wrong, the importance of doing the right thing even when facing adversity, and remembering that there is always a vision of a better world, even if it does not exist yet today.

“We cannot give up the struggle until we are there. While we may not get there in our lifetimes, we cannot give up,” Patterson said. “That’s the work that I invest myself in, and I’m reminded of that every year when we celebrate Dr. King.”

Patterson also shared his own favorite quote from King – “of all forms of discrimination and inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane” – and used it as a call to action for the campus.

The Unity Award was given as part of the “Intentionally Inclusive Challenge” organized by the Chancellor’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. This challenge required departments or divisions within UAMS to work together across campus both socially and in service. Five teams were recognized:

UAMS Translational Research Institute and Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System – Health and Wellness Committee: Collected and distributed items needed by the Promise Garden at 12th and Peyton streets in Little Rock. Collection included seeds and tools, as well as cash for chicken feed with the hope of offering sustainable assistance.

College of Medicine – Office of Admissions and UAMS student chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens: Leading up to Christmas, collected and distributed toys in a drive benefitting community service organization Integrity, Inc. and Bethany Christian Services.

Department of Lab Animal Medicine and Division of Endocrinology – Research: Organized a collection drive of bedding, linens, toiletries and other products and donated them to the Compassion Center, a shelter for homeless, transient, and displaced people in the Little Rock metro area.

Campus Operations – Operational Support Services and Institutional Compliance: Organized a collection for a variety of items, from toiletries to blankets to tents, and provided them to the Van, a nonprofit that reaches out and brings such essentials to homeless camps directly.

Office of Sponsored Programs Administrative Network, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, Science Communication Group and Grants Management Program Alumni: Organized two fundraisers to supply Christmas gifts to students in three Head Start classrooms and arranged a collection to buy gifts for young people in the care of Immerse Arkansas, which serves youth in crisis not served by the state foster care system.

In an effort to encourage the message of community service so prominent in King’s work, the celebration included a volunteer fair, in which a number of local organizations in need of volunteers were invited to provide staff and students an outlet for community service. They included:

Arkansas Youth Challenge Program

Goodwill Arkansas

Habitat for Humanity of Central Arkansas

Heart of Arkansas United Way

Hospice Home Care

Humane Society of Pulaski County

Jericho Way Day Resource Center

Literacy Action of Central Arkansas

Little Rock Zoo

Our House

UAMS Volunteer Services

UAMS Opioid/Pain Pilot Awardees Named

Six UAMS faculty have received pilot awards in opioid addiction and pain research. The one-year awards of up to $25,000 each were made possible through the UAMS Office of Vice Chancellor for Research and are being administered by the UAMS Translational Research Institute. The pilot projects will provide important preliminary data for these research teams to submit future federal grants to expand opioid addiction and pain research at UAMS.

Below are the awardees, their research titles and their video summaries of their projects:

Johnathan Goree, M.D., Video-based, Patient-Focused Opioid Education in the Perioperative Period: A Feasibility Study; https://youtu.be/QB9f_E9AOG0

Corey Hayes, Pharm.D., MPH, Linking the Arkansas Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Data with the Arkansas All-Payer Claims Database; https://youtu.be/ScgtR2OLZWE

Linda Larson-Prior, Ph.D., Impact of Buprenorphine-Assisted Treatment on Sleep, Mood and Cognition among Opioid Use Disorder Patients; https://youtu.be/sRWujnCwnOQ

Issam Makhoul, M.D., The Development and Implementation of a Standardized Pain Management Protocol for Adult Sickle Cell Patients; https://youtu.be/rpkW7TqqUVU

Clare Nesmith, M.D., Quantitation of Opioids in Neonates with Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal; https://youtu.be/WA8nL6fucoM

Alison Oliveto, Ph.D., Gamified Intervention to Prevent Adolescent Opioid Misuse; https://youtu.be/uCdG2L3fNN8

The awardees were selected from a diverse and competitive pool of applicants. Seventeen Letters of Intent were submitted, and 12 were invited to submit a full application. Ten full applications were reviewed and scored by a study section of 29 faculty and community reviewers.

The project start date is Jan. 1, 2019.

First UAMS Digital Health Conference a Hit for Researchers, Providers

Nearly everyone in the audience raised their hand when Curtis Lowery, M.D., asked if they used their smartphones for banking or making purchases. In welcoming UAMS’ first Digital Health

Conference on Nov. 30, he told the 80-plus attendees the health care industry has been frustratingly slower to follow the banking industry’s embrace of digital technology.

“It is unacceptable for me in women’s health to have maternal deaths that are preventable,” said Lowery, a nationally recognized pioneer and innovator in the use of telemedicine who chairs the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the UAMS College of Medicine. “We can do something about it.”

The conference gave researchers and health care providers an overview of the fast evolving digital health technologies and a chance to learn more specifically about the current lag in policies and regulations, and the endless opportunities this technology brings to providers and patients.

Digital health includes interactive video (telemedicine, telehealth), wearable devices, implantable devices, smartphone applications, robotics, augmented intelligence and machine learning.

UAMS digital health researcher Carolyn Greene, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, said the

day-long conference was a valuable use of her time.

“I loved that there was an opportunity to think about research and the promise of digital health in the future, but also we got a chance to hear about all the incredible digital health work that’s happening right now across the UAMS campuses and across the state,” she said. “As a clinician, you want to know about the shiny objects – you know, the exciting stuff – but sometimes your ability to really use it depends on being able to get reimbursed for it. I thought the conference did a good job of discussing some of those practical aspects also.”

The conference’s keynote speakers were Penny Mohr from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), where she is senior advisor for Emerging Technology and Delivery System Innovation Research Initiatives; and Mei Wa Kwong, J.D., executive director of the Center for Connected Health Policy, the federally designated National Telehealth Policy Resource Center.

“I really enjoyed hearing Mei Wa Kwong talk,” said Sarah Rhoads, Ph.D., D.N.P., a former UAMS faculty researcher and now a professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center at Memphis. “She did a great job simplifying and explaining the payment for mobile health and telehealth and telemedicine and the issues surrounding remote patient monitoring. It’s very important to know what the payers are willing to pay for when it comes to implementing technology.”

Rhoads also said she enjoyed Mohr’s perspective on what PCORI can and cannot fund. “It just provided a lot of clarity for me,” she said.

Health systems are behind other industries in adopting digital technologies in part because government policies haven’t kept pace with the advances, said Anita Walden, M.S., a conference organizer and instructor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the UAMS College of Medicine.

“Patients are looking forward to using digital technologies, and the industry companies and the payers are moving forward with trying to implement it,” Walden said. “They need the providers to catch up.”

Despite the challenges, Lowery said that UAMS, with the strong support of Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, will lead the state in adoption of digital health technologies.

“I think over the next few years we’re going to build the most modern, connected health care delivery system in the nation because we’re the only teaching hospital in the state and we have a lot of really rural and poor hospital systems everywhere,” he said. “I think all of us are committed to changing that.”

In the next five years, he predicted, the same percentage who are banking on their phones today will be receiving health care through their mobile devices.

John Paul Nolan, a research participant and Community Advisory Board member for a UAMS research study, urged Lowery and other UAMS leaders to take the lead in digital health care. Holmes, a veteran, said an expansion of telemedicine is desperately needed in rural communities. In small towns, residents notice whose vehicle is parked at a mental health clinic. Because of the stigma, people who need help often don’t get it. If mental health services could be provided via interactive video to a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, that scenario could be avoided.

“UAMS is poised to provide care,” Nolan said. With smartphones and other mobile devices, “In that moment of crisis, they don’t have to get out of the house. Those are the things we need to be looking at. UAMS brings a very powerful chip to the table because of its infrastructure, its national and international partners and the way that it is set up to study and to disseminate the information to make the public more aware of what’s going on.”

The Digital Health Conference was sponsored by the UAMS Office of Interprofessional Education, with support from the UAMS Center for Distance Health, the Department of Biomedical Informatics, South Central Telehealth Resource Center, and the UAMS Translational Research Institute.

November-December TRIbune

The November–December TRIbune newsletter features the unique community engaged research of Keneshia Bryant-Moore, Ph.D., APRN, FNP-BC. Bryant-Moore, a TRI KL2 Scholar graduate, has secured five Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) awards. The funding supports her research in partnership with faith leaders to address depression and other health issues in underserved populations.

We also highlight the work of Andrew Burrow, M.D., a rare diseases researcher who has found TRI to be vital in helping him achieve his goals. Our TRI New Study of the Month features an industry-sponsored clinical trial, led by Seth Berney, M.D., of a possible drug for systemic lupus erythematosus.