HJAR Jul/Aug 2023

36 JUL / AUG 2023  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS   Healthcare Briefs tongue is pushed forward through the stimulator. While CPAP is still the gold standard for sleep apnea treatment, Inspire is designed for people who can’t tolerate it, which can be up to 60% of patients, Mercy doctors said. Bassam“Sammy” Shukrallah, MD, Seeing Patients at Baptist Health Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinic Bassam “Sammy” Shukrallah, MD, is now see- ing patients at Baptist Health Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinic. Shukrallah specializes in thoracic surgery/transplants. Shukrallah earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Houston and a medical degree from St. Matthews University School of Medi- cine in the Cayman Islands, British West Indies. Before completing a residency at the University of South Alabama, Shukrallah served as a resi- dent and research resident at Vanderbilt Univer- sity Medical Center. Following medical school, Shukrallah served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He completed advanced fellowship training in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Minne- sota Medical Center in Minneapolis. Prior to joining Baptist Health, Shukrallah served as assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Cardiac Surgery and as a cardiothoracic surgeon in the Section of Cardiac Surgery at Minneapolis Heart Institute for over three years. He was an assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery in The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Department of Cardiac Surgery, where he also served as surgical director of the ECMO Program. Shukrallah is a member of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons and Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO). Baptist Health Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinic is located in Suite 200 of Medical Towers I on the campus of Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock. The clinic offers comprehensive surgical options from bypass surgery to a heart transplant. UAMSWinthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Names Monique Spillman, MD, PhD, as Gynecologic Oncology Chief Board-certified gynecologic oncologist Monique Spillman, MD, PhD, has joined the Win- throp P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the Univer- sity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology. She is also co-director of cancer services and a professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Prior to joining UAMS, Spillman practiced gyne- cologic oncology for nine years at Texas Oncol- ogy, P.A., part of the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas. She completed a resi- dency in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hos- pitals in Boston and a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at Duke University Medical School in Durham, North Carolina. She later joined the gynecologic oncology faculty at the Univer- sity of Colorado School of Medicine where she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in women’s health and established her own molecular biol- ogy lab to investigate estrogen’s role in ovarian cancer. Spillman earned medical and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas Southwestern Med- ical and Graduate Schools respectively, and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry with high hon- ors from the University of Texas at Austin. Mark Pippenger, MD, Joins Baptist HealthMemory Clinic-North Little Rock Baptist Health Memory Clinic-North Little Rock recently welcomed Mark Pippenger, MD, a Jones- boro native with nearly three decades of experi- ence in medicine. He specializes in behavioral neurology. Pippenger received a medical education from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), where he also completed residency train- ing in neurology. He later completed a fellowship in behavioral neurology and dementia at the Uni- versity of California, Los Angeles. Pippenger is an adjunct associate professor of neurology at UAMS. He is board-certified by the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons (NBPAS). Baptist Health Memory Clinic-North Little Rock is located at 3201 Springhill Drive, Suite 100A, in North Little Rock. $1MNSF Grant to Fund Planning for Health Initiative in Delta Region A coalition of organizations in Arkansas, Mark Pippenger, MD Monique Spillman, MD, PhD Bassam“Sammy” Shukrallah, MD