HJAR May/Jun 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  MAY / JUN 2020 63 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalAR.com see more Arkansas medical students who gradu- ate in our state, but do not have the opportunity to match with a residency in Arkansas, as well as a need for more primary care physicians throughout our state. Establishing this program will allow us to increase healthcare access by producing excep- tionally trained physicians who we hope will stay in Arkansas and provide care.” The four residents will learn to practice as effec- tive members of the healthcare system through multi-disciplinary team-based care within the inpa- tient and ambulatory settings. The three-year pro- gram is based in the Conway Regional Medical Center, the Conway Medical Group, and Arkan- sas Children’s Hospital. “I am so thankful for the opportunity to lead these bright young people as they pursue their calling to improve the lives of our community and the world around us for years to come,” said Sarah Robertson, MD, family medicine residency program director. “The goal of our program is to equip these family physicians with the knowledge, experience, and skills necessary to provide excel- lent patient care and positively impact the health of the communities we serve.” Baptist Health Announces Leadership Change for Western Region Harrison Dean, who has served Baptist Health for 37 years, and is currently Western Region pres- ident, has announced his plans to retire later this year. “We knew that this time was coming for Harrison and we couldn’t be more appreciative for his years of commitment to Baptist Health and for his ser- vice to western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma,” said Troy Wells, president and CEO of Baptist Health. “At the same time, we are thrilled to be adding a seasoned and proven leader to com- pliment the team that is in place in the Western Region.” Kim Miller will become president of the Bap- tist Health Western Region, effective April 20. She most recently served as president and CEO of Beaver Dam Community Hospitals Inc. in Bea- ver Dam, Wisc. Miller will oversee the system’s hospitals in Fort Smith and Van Buren as well as affiliated physi- cian clinics. Baptist Health’s Western Region has approximately 1,600 employees. “I’m very excited to be joining the Baptist Health family in Arkansas and getting to know the peo- ple in the River Valley,” Miller said. “I believe our caregivers are our most valuable asset and I am looking forward to investing in this group of peo- ple and helping to provide River Valley residents the excellent patient care they deserve.” Miller has more than 40 years of healthcare experience, in addition to being a registered nurse and a board-certified fellow from the American College of Healthcare Executives. She received a master’s degree in business adminis- tration from St. Francis University in Pennsylvania Amanda Lewis is Director of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Northwest Medical Center – WillowCreekWomen’s Hospital Amanda Lewis, MSN, RNC-NIC, is now the director of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for Northwest Medical Center – Willow Creek Women’s Hospital. She has more than 11 years nursing experience, nine and a half of which were spent working in the NICU at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. She previously served as total joint center program manager and nurse educator at Wash- ington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville; and NICU nurse manager, NICU clinical nurse edu- cator, and NICU RN IV at Arkansas Children’s Hos- pital in Little Rock. Lewis earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. UAMS Receives $1MGrant for Clinical Trials on Opioid Withdrawal in Infants The University of Arkansas for Medical Sci- ences (UAMS), in collaboration with the Duke Clinical Research Institute, has received a $1 mil- lion federal grant for two clinical trials involving infants with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS). The increase in maternal opioid use has resulted in a rise in the number of infants born with NOWS. The $1,066,433 in funding comes from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative SM, an aggressive, trans-agency effort to speed sci- entific solutions to stem the national opioid pub- lic health crisis. At UAMS, Jeannette Lee, PhD, professor of biostatistics, and Jessica Snowden, MD, associ- ate professor of pediatrics, are leaders of the Data Coordinating and Operations Center for the Envi- ronmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Net- work, which will conduct the trials in conjunction with the Neonatal Research Network, which is funded by the Eunice Shriver Kennedy National Institute for Child Health and Human Develop- ment. Both trials aim to address management of infants exposed in utero to opioids. “The two clinical protocols that we will be testing were developed over a two-year period through collaboration among the clinical sites and coordinating centers that are a part of this united effort,” Lee said. “In both instances, we are looking for new, improved tools for treating these infants, who are born with the physical symptoms of opioid withdrawal.” Kim Miller Amanda Lewis, MSN, RNC-NIC