Grand Rounds August on Arkansas Medical News Inc.

Grand Rounds August

St. Anthony’s CEO Attends Regional Policy Board Meeting

MORRILTON — Christy Hockaday, Administrator/CEO for St. Anthony’s Medical Center, recently attended a policy review meeting for the American Hospital Association (AHA) Regional Policy Board. The two-day long meeting was held in Irving, Texas and was centered on providing feedback on the framework for national healthcare reform.

As a part of the American Hospital Association, the Regional Policy Boards ensure fair representation from the entire nation. Regional Policy Boards debate policy options and their recommendations and analyses are integral in AHA’s policy deliberations. Hockaday serves Region Seven, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. In this role, she represents the healthcare concerns for the State of Arkansas, St. Anthony’s Medical Center, St. Vincent Health System, and Catholic Health Initiatives.

Chastain Named Executive Director of Crittenden Regional Hospital Foundation

WEST MEMPHIS — Christopher E. Chastain has been named Executive Director of the Crittenden Regional Hospital Foundation

Chastain, an experienced foundation executive with ten years of fund raising experience in both the educational and healthcare industry, is a graduate of Rhodes College with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Chastain joins Crittenden Regional after serving as Director of Institutional Advancement at Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis. Prior to joining Lausanne, he served as Development Officer for Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation and has also served as the Assistant Director of Annual Giving at Rhodes College.

UAMS Study Shows Potential to Greatly Diminish Ringing in the Ears

LITTLE ROCK — A study conducted at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has shown potential to markedly improve tinnitus, commonly known as “ringing in the ears.”

Mark Mennemeier, Ph.D., and Dr. John Dornhoffer, worked collaboratively to design the treatment study. Results of the initial case were published in the July issue of The Laryngoscope in which a single patient was tested to examine the safety and feasibility of using maintenance sessions of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to reduce tinnitus loudness and prevent its return over time.

To read the study, visit http://www.uams.edu/neuroscience_cellbiology/faculty/tinnitus.pdf.

Mennemeier is associate professor of neurobiology and director of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Laboratory in the Center for Translational Neuroscience (CTN) at UAMS. He conducts the treatment study and evaluates its effectiveness.
Dornhoffer is professor of otology/neurotology at UAMS and a clinician/scientist in the CTN. He evaluates patients for entry into the study and holds a grant from the Tinnitus Research Consortium that funds the research.

UAMS College of Medicine Names Ansel Chairman of Dermatology

LITTLE ROCK — Dr. John C. Ansel, has been appointed chairman of the Department of Dermatology in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine.

Ansel was previously a tenured professor in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Colorado Denver on the Anschutz Medical Campus, with a joint appointment in the Department of Ophthalmology. He was also on the staff of the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora and the Veterans Administration Eastern Colorado Health Care System in Denver.
Ansel earned his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical University in Philadelphia in 1977. He completed his residency in dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania, and was a fellow at the National Institutes of Health from 1981 to 1986 in the Laboratory of Immunology and in the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology. Ansel then joined the Department of Dermatology at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, where he developed a research program that focused on the role of cytokines in skin inflammation, corneal disease, wound healing and tumorigenesis.

Ansel has been a leader in many national dermatology organizations, including the Society for Investigative Dermatology, American Academy of Dermatology and the American Dermatologic Association.

New St. Vincent Physician

Dr. Shiva Nallur will begin seeing patients at St. Vincent Clinic/East in Little Rock on July 1, 2008. Dr. Nallur’s specialty is Family and Preventive Medicine. Nallur is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Arkansas Medical Society.

Arkansas Allergy & Asthma Clinic, P.A. Welcomes New Physician

Arkansas Allergy & Asthma Clinic, P.A. is pleased to announce the association of Dr. Kelly D. Burks, in the practice of Adult and Pediatric Allergy. A graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Dr. Burks’ has special training in severe asthma, immunodeficiency, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, food allergy and anaphylaxis. She will begin seeing patients July 14, 2008.

Sip Mouden Receives Rural Advocate Of The Year Award

EUREKA SPRINGS, AR—Community Health Centers Executive Director Sip Mouden of Maumelle received the Rural Advocate of the Year award at the Arkansas Rural Development Conference held May 21st – 23rd in Eureka Springs. The Rural Advocate of the Year award is one of the most prestigious awards in the state and recognizes Arkansans who provide exemplary service to rural areas

Mouden has served for over 25 years in health and social service administration and management within major medical institutions, academic institutions, state government, private for profit health care businesses, insurance and not-for-profit organizations. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Community Health Centers of Arkansas Inc., which represents twelve federally qualified health centers and their 59 health center locations. She is also a UAMS College of Public Health faculty member. She has served on numerous boards and committees in a continuous effort to improve the quality of life of rural Arkansans. Her dedication and commitment is what makes Ms. Mouden stand out as the Arkansas Rural Development Commission and the Department of Rural Services’ Rural Advocate of the Year.

Brown Joins ACH as New Senior VP and Chief Nursing Officer

LITTLE ROCK — Lori J. Brown, RN, MSN, a long-time nursing administrator with experience at several health care facilities across the nation, has joined Arkansas Children’s Hospital as senior vice president for Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer (SVP and CNO).

Brown was named to the SVP and CNO position after a lengthy and comprehensive search. She began full-time duties at ACH in early June.

Previously, Brown was the vice president of regional services for Children’s Hospital and Children’s Healthcare System, Inc., in Milwaukee, Wis

She is a graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee, where she obtained a bachelor’s in nursing and a master’s of science
in nursing with a focus on administration. She also is pursuing a doctorate of health administration.

Brown follows former Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Christie Berner, RN, MSN, who retired earlier this year after a decade of service.

Jeanette Lee, Ph.D., to Lead Biostatistics at UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute

LITTLE ROCK — Jeanette Y. Lee, Ph.D., has been named professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and will serve as a biostatistics leader at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

She previously served as professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and as senior biostatistician in the Biostatistics Unit of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Lee received her doctorate in biostatistics from Johns Hopkins University. She also has held positions at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse and the Pharmaceutical Research and Development Division of the Bristol-Myers Company in Syracuse.

Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock Offers State-Of-The-Art Therapy For Advanced-Stage Heart Failure Patients

LITTLE ROCK — Following the recent FDA-approval of the Thoratec® HeartMate II® Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS), BAPTIST HEALTH Medical Center-Little Rock (BHMC-LR) is among select cardiac centers in the nation to offer the revolutionary mechanical circulatory support (MCS) therapy as a bridge-to-transplantation (BTT) treatment option for the many advanced-stage heart failure patients in this area.

“This technology can benefit many Arkansans who suffer from end stage heart failure. The HeartMate II provides hope to those patients who may not otherwise survive to transplant without this important therapy,” said Dr. John M. Ransom, surgical director of transplant services at BHMC-LR.

As one of the leading cardiac centers in the U.S., BHMC-LR has performed 66 successful implantations of ventricular assist devices (VADs) in recent years. In addition, the center offers a wide range of the latest heart failure treatment options and heart services -including: four Heart Surgery suites, four Cath Labs, a Non-Invasive Cardiac Lab, two Electrophysiology Labs, Critical Care/Cardiovascular Intensive Care Units, a Congestive Heart Failure program and Cardiac Rehabilitation.

The Thoratec® HeartMate II® is the latest FDA-approved left ventricular assist device (LVAD) for bridge to transplantation (BTT). A mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device designed to provide long-term cardiac support, HeartMate II is much smaller than previously approved LVADs and is intended for a broad range of advanced-stage heart failure patients, including women.

The device is designed to have a much longer functional life than the previous generation of devices and to operate more simply and quietly. The HeartMate II is currently in clinical trial for use as Destination Therapy (DT), for advanced heart failure patients who are ineligible for cardiac transplantation

Ring Retires from Healthcare

MORRILTON — After over 30 years in the medical field, Phyllis Ring has retired.
Ring graduated as an LPN in 1975 from what was then Petit Jean Vo-Tech, now UACCM. She began her career at the Conway Human Development Center and, in 1982, she joined St. Anthony’s Medical Center where she worked for 19 years, primarily in the Emergency Department. In July 2000, she joined Morrilton Medical Clinic and later became the primary nurse for Dr. Robert Wilkerson. On Friday, May 30th, the employees of Morrilton Medical Clinic recognized her many years of service with a surprise retirement party. Also in attendance were members of Ring’s family and employees of St. Anthony’s who gathered to honor her dedication to healthcare.

UAMS Study Gives Hope for Earlier Osteoporosis Diagnoses

LITTLE ROCK — Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have found a way to predict bone loss that could lead to earlier and more reliable diagnoses of osteoporosis.

The research team, led by Larry J. Suva, Ph.D., detected proteins in the blood serum of 58 postmenopausal women that signaled increased bone loss. The findings are reported in the June issue of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and in the July issue of Nature Clinical Practice – Endocrinology and Metabolism.

“The potential is that we can use a drop of a patient’s blood to diagnose their risk of fracture, their bone turnover and their osteoporosis,” said Suva, director of the UAMS Center for Orthopaedic Research and professor in the departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Physiology and Biophysics in the UAMS College of Medicine.

Identifying the biomarkers associated with bone loss may someday be used in addition to bone mineral density tests, which often can’t predict the risk of fractures related to bone loss. Until UAMS’ breakthrough, biochemical markers of bone turnover have not provided the specific information needed to make accurate diagnoses of osteoporosis.

“Our findings may lead to a way to potentially supplement the bone density test,” Suva said. “It’s a pretty big deal for the osteoporosis community.”

The research is continuing in collaboration with George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., to sequence the individual proteins from patient samples that signal bone loss.

August 2008