HJAR Jul/Aug 2026

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  JUL / AUG 2026 17 on those teams and I’m sure that this early program will lead to significant external funding in the future — in the millions of dollars — and that we’ll have great results. We have so many patients now getting the GLP-1s for weight loss, diabetes, and other things, but they have lots of other benefits and maybe some other aspects that aren’t necessarily benefits. So it’s important that we do the research to learn what those are. Editor Does the new Alice L. Walton School of Medicine change UAMS’s role, strategy, or sense of urgency in any way? Barnes No. We are excited that there are people like Alice Walton who will commit significant sums of her resources to improving healthcare. Education improves healthcare. And so, she is totally committed to what she is doing and we visit often. We just visited Monday and we’re working with them in areas where we can, but it doesn’t change our mission. We are who we are. We are the only academic health center in our state and we are committed to continuing to be not only a clinical institution, but a research and education center for our state and we’ll continue down that pathway and continue to grow. Editor The Alice L. Walton School of Medicine is built around a whole- health model. Are there elements of that approach that you think academic medicine broadly should pay attention to? Barnes Sure. And they have been for decades — not at the level whereAlice has been with whole health and all, but certainly many of the things that are part of a whole-health concept have been taught in medical school for decades. They just haven’t been packaged together, and we can all do a better job of that. I should say, while we’re talking about the medical school, that things have changed significantly in our state. Adecade ago, there was one medical school, the UAMS College of Medicine. Now there are four. In addition to the Alice Walton School of Medicine, we have D.O. schools in Fort Smith and Jones- boro. So there are lots of options for medi- cal students now, and I’d say there’s noth- ing wrong with competition. It just makes everybody better, which benefits the stu- dents and, therefore, our state. Editor The US spends more on healthcare than many peer nations, yet our population health outcomes often lag behind countries with universal coverage. If you were building the U.S. healthcare system from scratch today, what would you design differently? Barnes I’m not sure. When I applied for the Rhodes Scholarship many, many years ago, it was because I wanted to learn more about the national health plan in Great Britain, but I’m not sure [their system is] the right answer. It’s probably a composite. It certainly requires that we have access to care for all Americans. How we do that, I’m not sure. You have to remember, I’m working way too many hours a day just trying to figure out how to do the best I can with UAMS. I’m not ready to fix the national problem probably. Editor If we were to interview you again five years from now, what would you hope you’d be able to say UAMS accomplished under your leadership? Barnes That we are now a system of seven or more hospitals. We have an extremely strong educational program and are providing the workforce and healthcare for our state at a level at which we’ve never done it. And that we have had significant research growth and that we, like I said before, that UAMS Cares, has now changed the way healthcare is delivered at UAMS and we are the friendliest healthcare delivery system in the region. Editor What keeps you up at night as chancellor and what gives you hope? Barnes That’s a great question. Somebody asked me that question a week ago and my honest answer was nothing keeps me up at night. I go to bed and I go to sleep. Editor You’re lucky. Barnes I am totally convinced each night I go to bed that I have done my absolute best to do what I can accomplish that day and there’s nothing I’m going to change that late at night. And now a little bit different if you had said, “What gets you up in the morning?”When I wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes I just get up because I’m thinking about all the things we need to do the next day. And so, I don’t sleep very much, but I never have, but usually because I start so early. I get up at 4:09 every morning by alarm, but it almost never goes off because I’ve been up for an hour or two before that. And I’d say that’s probably gotten more significant since I took over, since I became chancellor, because you have so many fun things going on, I can’t wait to get the day going. Editor And what gives you hope? Barnes The people who work at UAMS give me tremendous hope. The leadership team here is absolutely phenomenal. Something I didn’t know. The other thing people ask me [is what] was the biggest surprise I had when I became interim chancellor. It was just how incredible this senior leadership team is. They are absolutely dedicated and devoted to what they do and it makes it fun to be with them. We have a team that gets along well together and works hard together and I very much enjoy it. Editor Thank you for taking the time to help our readers get to know you and your vision for UAMS. Barnes You are welcome. Thank you. n