HJAR Jul/Aug 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  JUL / AUG 2021 23 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalAR.com diabetes and hypertension. After attending medical school at Osmania Medical College in India, Muddasani finished a residency in internal medicine at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine in Kalamazoo. Muddasani is a member of the American College of Physicians and the Telangana State Medical Council in Telangana, India. NIHGrant Supports ACRI, UAMS Effort to Reduce Life- Threatening Asthma Attacks A National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant awarded to Arkansas Children’s Research Insti- tute (ACRI) will help scientists at Arkansas Chil- dren’s and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) take a big step toward verify- ing a genetic target for potential treatments that reduce life-threatening asthma attacks in children. A team led by Joshua Kennedy, MD, principal investigator, and researchers in California and New Mexico will use the two-year $250,000 grant to confirm whether the specific genetic mutation holds the key to asthma attacks made worse by the common cold. Kennedy has focused his research since 2013 on severe asthma that occurs when children also have a rhinovirus infection, a virus that causes the common cold. Between 60% to 80% of children who seek emergency treatment for asthma also have a rhinovirus. The NIH-funded study will attempt to isolate a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, also referred to as a genetic “snip”) that might make asthmatics more susceptible to rhinovirus infec- tion in a collaboration between Kennedy; David Broide, MD, at the University of California, San Diego; and Daryl Dinwiddie, PhD, at the Univer- sity of New Mexico. “If we can connect this genetic SNP variant to enhanced viral infections, I think that is a huge breakthrough for kids everywhere with asthma,” said Kennedy, an associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy and Immunology who sees patients at Arkansas Children’s. “If we are able to sequence that SNP, and know who has it and who is at higher risk, I think we can come up with treatments that are focused on decreasing the number of asthma exacerbations these kids have and improve their quality of life overall.” Broide is expert in the specific SNP (ORMDL3 asthma risk variant) and will conduct the geno- typing. DNA samples collected from patients at Arkansas Children’s will go to Broide’s lab for SNP analysis. Dinwiddie will assist Kennedy with genomic sequencing of the rhinoviruses found in patients. The study will look at two groups of patients: those with asthma who have the SNP variant and those with asthma who don’t have it. The study will conduct additional analysis based on the type of rhinovirus. Of the three rhinovirus types, A, B, and C, Kennedy said type A rhinovirus may cause more severe exacerbations in those with the SNP because the ORMDL3 mutation increases the receptor for this virus on cell surfaces. Kennedy will also use donated human lungs in his lab to compare responses to rhinovirus infec- tions in lungs with the SNP mutation and those without it. Slices of donated so-called “living lungs” can be preserved and revived to conduct such tests. Radiation Oncologist Roscoe Chan, MD, Joins CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Cancer Center CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs announced that radiation oncologist Roscoe Chan, MD, has joined the team of board-certified cancer spe- cialists at the CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Cancer Center. Chan brings more than 25 years of profes- sional radiation oncology experience. “Dr. Chan’s extensive experience in radiation oncology and cancer treatment will be an invalu- able addition to the exceptional, compassionate cancer care our patients appreciate at the cancer center in Hot Springs,” said Douglas Ross, pres- ident of CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs. “We’re incredibly proud to have him join our healing ministry in Southwest Arkansas.” Chan most recently served as medical direc- tor of radiation oncology at CHRISTUS Schump- ert / Highland Cancer Treatment Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. for more than 10 years. He also previously served as assistant professor at LSU Health Science Center in Shreveport and UTMB-Galveston. After attending medical school at the University of Hong Kong, Chan completed radiation oncol- ogy training at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He obtained Canadian board certifica- tions in 1996 and has been certified by the Amer- ican Board of Radiology since 1997. UAMS Student Moriah Hollaway Receives Prominent Award from U.S. Public Health Service Moriah Hollaway, a senior at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has been selected to receive a 2021 Excellence in Public Health Award from the U.S. Public Health Ser- vice Physician Professional Advisory Committee. The national award is given to medical students who are public health champions advancing the U.S. Public Health Service’s (USPHS) mission to “protect, promote, and advance the health and safety of our nation” and who are helping address public health issues in their community. Hollaway, who graduated in May with a dual degree (MD and Master of Public Health) from the UAMS College of Medicine and UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, was selected for this award for her work on the impact of Roscoe Chan, MD Moriah Hollaway