HJAR Sep/Oct 2025

48 SEP / OCT 2025  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS Hospital Rounds UAMS to Offer Promising Multiple Myeloma Treatment As reported by Antoinette Grajeda in a July 4 article in the Arkansas Advocate, a therapy that’s showing promising results in a recent study is being offered to blood cancer patients in Little Rock. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Myeloma Center, part of the Winthrop P. Rocke- feller Cancer Institute, is the only institution in the state that offers CAR T cell therapy to patients with multiple myeloma. While the blood cancer is not currently curable, symptoms can be addressed and progression can be slowed through various treatments. CAR T-cell therapy is a weeks-long process that involves harvesting T-cells, a type of white blood cell, from multiple myeloma patients’ blood and sending them to a lab where they are trained to attack cancer cells, according to Dr. Samer Al Had- idi, an associate professor at UAMS’ College of Medicine. Once this process is complete, patients receive an infusion of the newly trained cells after being given a low dose of chemotherapy to make room for the cells, Al Hadidi said. A study presented in June at the American Soci- ety of Clinical Oncology annual meeting showed prolonged periods of remission for patients who received a specific CAR T-cell therapy called Carvykti. Of the 97 “heavily pretreated” patients who received this therapy, about a third remained alive and progression free for five or more years without further treatment. Patients in the study historically were expected to be progression free for less than six months and live for about a year, on average, according to a press release. Al Hadidi said “the beauty” of this therapy is it works for hard-to-treat patients and has the poten- tial to be used for long-term disease control. The possibility of using this treatment on patients in earlier stages of the disease and achieving the same or better results is “what gets most people excited about it,” he said. Multiple myeloma can cause various symptoms like bone fractures, anemia, fatigue and kidney failure. Typically, multiple myeloma presents in people in their late 60s and is more common among men and African Americans, he said. The Arkansas Advocate article this news brief was taken from was shortened for space. To read the full article, go to: https://arkansasadvocate. com/2025/07/04/promising-multiple-myeloma- treatment-only-offered-one-location-in-arkansas/ CHI St. Vincent Honored by AHA Diabetic, Stroke, Cardiovascular Care CHI St. Vincent announced that CHI St. Vincent Morrilton has been recognized with four Ameri- can Heart Association Get With The Guidelines Awards for stroke and cardiovascular care: the Coronary Artery Disease STEMI Referring Silver Plus, Rural Stroke Bronze, Rural Coronary Artery Disease NSTE-ACS Gold, and Rural Coronary Artery Disease STEMI Gold Awards. In addition, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs received the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Target: Stroke Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll recognitions. CHI St. Vincent North received the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus with Advanced Therapy with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. And CHI St. Vincent Infirmary received the American Heart Association Get With The Guide- lines Stroke Silver with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. Baptist Health Neuroscience Symposium Set for Oct. 10 in Hot Springs Baptist Health Neuroscience Center invites healthcare professionals to participate in the third annual Baptist Health Neuroscience Symposium on Oct. 10. The symposium will be offered as a hybrid event for both on-site and virtual attendance. For those attending on-site, the event will be at the Hot Springs Convention Center, 134 Convention Blvd., in Hot Springs. The goal of the symposium is to provide edu- cational opportunities for nurses, EMTs, physi- cians, advanced practice providers, and other supporting healthcare professionals in the pre- vention, diagnosis, and management of neuro- science patients. Early registration is encouraged as seats are limited and may fill up quickly. Registration is $40 for non-Baptist Health employees and includes lunch. If you are a Bap- tist Health employee, email neurosymposium@ baptist-health.org to receive a promo code for free registration. Payment of class fees is nonrefundable. For registration and additional info, visit: baptist- health.com/neuroscience-symposium CommonSpirit Health Appoints Bob Sarkar to Leadership Position CHI St. Vincent announced that its parent com- pany, CommonSpirit Health, has named Bob Sarkar as market vice president of population health and physician alignment on an interim basis as of June 30. In this role, Sarkar will oversee CommonSpirit’s Clinically Integrated Network (CIN) across its Ten- nessee/Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Ohio markets. Sarkar has more than 30 years of healthcare experience and has been with CHI St. Vincent since 2015, when he was appointed president of Arkansas Health Network (AHN). Sarkar holds an MBA from the University of Illi- nois Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Sci- ence in biotechnology from the University of Ken- tucky. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Baptist Health Partners with DHS onMaternal Life360 HOME Programs in Little Rock, North Little Rock Baptist Health has partnered with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of Medical Services, to implement the state's third and fourth Maternal Life360 HOME programs (Lit- tle Rock and North Little Rock). Currently serving Pulaski, Saline, and Faulkner counties, the pro- gram plans to expand to other counties served by Baptist Health. Baptist Health is the first in Arkansas to collab- orate with Vanderbilt University School of Nurs- ing to utilize the Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW) home-visiting model. This evi- dence-based approach employs certified com- munity health workers with lived experience to enhance maternal and child health by improving