HJLR Mar/Apr 2019

Healthcare Journal of little rock I  MAR / APR 2019 43 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalLR.com study of infectious disease at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock as well as an internship and residency in internal medicine and pediatrics from Louisiana State Uni- versity Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. Arkansas AutismProgram Receives $2.17Million in Federal Funding The Arkansas Autism and Developmental Dis- abilities Monitoring (AR ADDM) Program of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) recently was awarded a four-year grant of $2.17 million by the federal Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention. The Arkansas monitoring program tracks the number and characteristics of eight-year-olds with autism spectrum disorder and/or intellec- tual disability. The new funding will enable the monitoring program to continue that work while also tracking four- and 16-year-olds. “In this grant competition, we were one of only two new sites nationwide chosen to track 16-year- olds, an expansion to three from only one site before,” said Maya Lopez, MD, the program’s principal investigator and an associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics. “We deeply appreciate this funding renewal because it means we can continue gath- ering data to promote developmental screening in health and educational services and to connect these children with appropriate services.” Although previous grant cycles funded state- wide monitoring, this new period focuses on cen- tral Arkansas. The program includes investigators with UAMS and operates in collaboration with the Arkansas Department of Health and the Arkansas Department of Education. Since 2000, the ADDM network has conducted autism spectrum disorder surveillance among eight-year-old children. This year ADDM has initiated the monitoring of 16-year-olds to help inform public health strategies for adolescents with autism. There are now 11 monitoring sites in different regions nationwide. Tracking 16-year-old adolescents with autism can also provide valuable information on transi- tion planning in special education services and after the high school years. Sites will analyze the data to better understand increases over time in the number of children identified with autism, and to carry out education and outreach activities in their local communities. In this new funding cycle, UAMS received $1.57 million for four years of monitoring four- and eight-year-olds, and $600,000 in a supple- mental grant for the same period for monitor- ing 16-year-olds. Schwanda Flowers, PharmD, Appointed UAMS College of Pharmacy InterimDean Schwanda Flowers, PharmD, has been named interim dean of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Pharmacy. She is the college’s associate dean for adminis- trative and academic affairs. Flowers has served as interim dean since Jan- uary 7, when former dean Keith Olsen, PharmD, stepped down to take an appointment as dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center Col- lege of Pharmacy in Omaha. UAMS will conduct a national search for a successor to Olsen. Also, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, Flowers received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 1999 from the college. In 2009, she completed a fellowship in the Academic Leader- ship Fellows Program of the American Associa- tion of Colleges of Pharmacy. From 2012 to 2018, Flowers served as the col- lege’s associate dean for student affairs and fac- ulty development. She has served on the college’s faculty since 2005. Three with Arkansas Ties Named to Board of National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization Two Arkansans have been named to the 2019 Board of Directors for the National Hospice & Pal- liative Care Organization (NHPCO). Greg Wood, MS, LSW, executive director for Hospice of the Ozarks, has been elected and named chairman of the board of directors for NHPCO. Wood has served on the NHPCO Board of Directors for the past five years as a national director and vice-chair for the past two years. “I am honored and excited to facilitate and lead the conversations while representing Hospice of the Ozarks with a wide-range of various hospice and palliative care leaders across the country,” said Wood. “There are 28 elected national direc- tors on the board of directors representing large and small, urban and rural, not-for-profit and for- profit hospice and palliative care providers across the country. Even though each provider type is uniquely different, together they can influence and ensure quality care is offered and provided to all Americans at the end of their lives.” Wood also serves on the Hospice & Palliative Care Asso- ciation of Arkansas (HPCAA) Board of Directors. He has been the executive director for Hospice Mallory Smith, MD Maya Lopez, MD Schwanda Flowers, PharmD