HJAR Sep/Oct 2024

34 SEP / OCT 2024  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS   Healthcare Briefs NIHAwards $3.7M to UAMS The National Institutes of Health has awarded an additional $3.7 million to Shengyu Mu, PhD, and his team of researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to con- tinue their groundbreaking study on the role of immune cells in hypertension. Mu, an associate professor in the UAMS Col- lege of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, was awarded an initial $1.89 mil- lion grant in 2019 to fund his laboratory’s explo- ration of the link between immune cells and hypertension, a widespread and serious health condition. During that time, the team made substantial discoveries indicating that immune disorders con- tribute to high blood pressure, paving the way for the next phase of research. The five-year grant renewal began with a $685,749 payment in April and is expected to fund a comprehensive series of experiments and advanced analyses over the next five years. “We are thrilled to receive this continued sup- port from the NIH,” said Mu. “Our initial research has provided strong evidence that immune cells play a key role in the development and progres- sion of hypertension. This new funding will allow us to delve even deeper, aiming to identify new therapeutic targets and develop novel strategies to manage hypertension.” Dinesh Edem, MD, Joins CHI St. Vincent CHI St. Vincent announced that endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist Dinesh Edem, MD, joined the CHI St. Vincent Diabetes and Endocrinology Clinic in Little Rock. Edem spe- cializes in endocrinology and non-surgical weight loss. Before joining CHI St. Vincent, Edem was the medical weight management program director and an assistant professor of endocrinology and metabolism at a state healthcare system. He also served as an adjunct assistant professor of medi- cine and endocrinology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Edem is a frequent guest lecturer across the country on obesity management and diabetes. He serves on the editorial boards of multiple medical journals and endocrinology publications. Edem is also a member of The Obesity Society, the Obesity Medicine Association, the Ameri- can Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society, and the American College of Physicians. Edem graduated from Topiwala National Med- ical College in India and completed an internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins University and Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. He is board-cer- tified with the American Board of Obesity Med- icine; the American Board of Internal Medicine, where he received a certification in endocrinol- ogy; and the American Board of Internal Medi- cine, where he received a certification in inter- nal medicine. The CHI St. Vincent Diabetes and Endocrinol- ogy Clinic is located at the Little Rock Diagnostic Center at 10001 Lile Drive in Little Rock. Bilal Saqi, MD, Joins CHI St. Vincent Heart Clinic in North Little Rock CHI St. Vincent announced that electrophys- iologist Bilal Saqi, MD, has joined the team of specialists at the CHI St. Vincent Heart Clinic in North Little Rock. Saqi joins CHI St. Vincent from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, where he completed an electrophysiology fel- lowship. Previously, he completed a cardiology fellowship at Lehigh Valley Health Network/Uni- versity of South Florida College of Medicine and an internal medicine residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio. A graduate of Army Medical College, National University of Sciences & Technology in Rawal- pindi, Pakistan, Saqi also served as a clinical instructor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Saqi is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Cardiovascular Disease, the National Board of Echocardiography, and the American Board of Internal Medicine. He has authored multiple articles in research publi- cations, including the Journal of Cardiac Electro- physiology and the Heart Rhythm journal. The CHI St. Vincent Heart Clinic is located at 4000 Richards Road in North Little Rock. UAMS to Provide Contraceptive Services, Education in 14 Counties The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will provide contraceptive services and reproductive health education to women living in rural Arkansas counties in an effort to prevent unintended pregnancies and to improve access to women’s healthcare in Arkansas. Through a private philanthropic grant awarded to the UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation, UAMS will deploy mobile health units — vehicles equipped to provide services such as health screenings, prenatal care services, and vac- cinations — to provide contraceptives and edu- cation to women living in 14 counties. By providing contraceptive services in those counties — Ashley, Carroll, Little River, Lee, Mad- ison, Miller, Ouachita, Phillips, Newton, Sebas- tian, Sevier, St. Francis, Union, and Washington — UAMS aims to eliminate barriers women may currently experience when trying to receive con- traception, such as transportation, costs, and lan- guage and cultural barriers. “Women living in rural communities face a lot of challenges when trying to receive the contra- ceptive method of their choice,” said Kelly Con- roy, senior director of Community Programs at the UAMS Institute for Community Health Innova- tion. “Their local clinics may not offer a full range of contraception methods, or they may not be available on-site. By bringing our mobile health units to those communities and working along- side their clinics and their local organizations, we want to help women navigate their reproductive health safely and effectively.” The institute will work with organizations and clinics in the 14 counties to help schedule appointments for women ahead of the mobile Dinesh Edem, MD