JENNIFER BOULDEN

As deeply as Robert Gullett, MD loves the Razorbacks, he finds it rough sitting in the stands at University of Arkansas football games. For a long stretch of his 30-year orthopedic surgery career in Pine Bluff, he was also team doctor for the Pine Bluff High School Zebras. “You get used to being there on the field, mixing with the players,” he explained. “It’s hard to have to stay in the stands when you’re used to being in the center of the action. It’s in my blood now.”
Gullet has a knack for staying at the center of the action. Two years ago, he left Pine Bluff to move to Fayetteville to be director of the Northwest Arkansas Area Health Education Center (NWA AHEC) and vice-chancellor of the new UAMS satellite campus in Northwest Arkansas.

He and his wife Brenda loved Pine Bluff, but saw fresh career possibilities in the area and a chance to be nearer their two sons, Grant and Ryan. Both sons attended the University of Arkansas and subsequently settled in the area. Grant, who holds a degree in hotel and restaurant management, recently opened Gullett’s Gourmet in Fayetteville. Ryan, a former Razorback punter, is a representative for Lincare, Inc. Brenda, a former state representative who serves on the State Board of Education, now has a consulting business.

“Pine Bluff was a great place to live and raise our sons,” Gullett, who served on the Pine Bluff School Board, said. “I love that city and the community there and am still very invested in its success.”

Gullett had a very busy orthopedic practice in Pine Bluff and practiced at Jefferson Regional Medical Center, a hospital he is quick to praise. “I can’t say enough good things about JRMC. It’s got a beautiful campus, a supportive administration that takes care of its doctors and makes sure they get all the equipment and continuing education they need.”

His last five years in Pine Bluff, Gullett served as medical director for the hospital, in addition to running his practice. That experience gave him an entrance into healthcare administration, an area he found he rather enjoyed.
He had also served as adjunct faculty for the Pine Bluff AHEC since 1976, so when the NWA AHEC position opened up in 2006, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

“I couldn’t be happier with my work. It really is a joy to come to work every morning because I know how much good we are doing here each day.”

Gullett said the primary directives of the AHEC program are to train family medicine residents and nursing, pharmacy and X-ray tech students; provide a library and continuing education opportunities for the medical community; and to provide space and technology for various telemedicine programs. The NWA AHEC trains nine family medicine residents each year, for a total of 27 residents at the center.

“The AHEC program, started by Gov. Dale Bumpers to train more family medicine doctors for rural communities, has been a magnificent success. So many of the primary care doctors serving our state came through these centers,” Gullett said.

His own responsibilities seeing patients, giving lectures and consultations also include overseeing everything that happens at the center. He said the eight faculty members on site are tremendously talented professionals, and he enjoys having so many opportunities to teach residents. “Teaching is something I’ve always enjoyed,” he said, “and I love to learn, so I’m always looking for more educational opportunities for myself.”

Gullett said the best and most influential training he’s had came last year when he attended the two-week UCLA Health Care Executive Program. Although the syllabus looked dry on paper, especially considering the 10- and 12-hour days scheduled, Gullett said it could not have been a better experience for him as a newly minted full-time administrator.

“It was the most incredible instruction I’ve seen. The excellence of the presenters was just unbelievable,” Gullett raved. “It’s been a huge influence on my administrative and teaching style.”

Gullett’s goal, delineated through that program, was making the UAMS expansion campus a reality in NWA. He has incorporated the lessons learned at UCLA into his work with Vice Chancellor Peter Kohler and other leaders to establish the new campus, set to open next year.

“We have several excellent teaching hospitals here serving a large and diverse population,” Gullett said, acknowledging that not all corners of the state have been happy with the decision to found a satellite campus in Northwest Arkansas. “We’ve got to train more doctors. We’re about to have 80,000 baby boomers entering the Medicare system. If we don’t get more doctors, we’re going to be in trouble.”

He added that just because a percentage of third- and fourth-year students will be trained in NWA, it doesn’t mean they will stay. “We expect that like the students in Little Rock, our graduates will go all over the state and nation for their careers,” he explained.

“Personally, I feel so lucky to be part of this effort,” Gullett said. “I had a wonderful career in Pine Bluff, and now I have a wonderful career here, near my sons and Razorback sports. To get to be part of the expansion of the medical school is just icing on the cake. It’s something we can do now that will have an enormous ripple effect on the state for years to come. We’re building a legacy.”



August 2008