HJLR Mar/Apr 2019

64 MAR / APR 2019  I  Healthcare Journal of little rock Hospital Rounds Thompson earned a law degree at the Univer- sity of Tulsa College of Law and is also an alum of University of Oklahoma in Norman. He has exten- sive experience in litigation, hospital policies and procedures, and hospital compliance with fed- eral laws. Arkansas Children’s Names Jimmy Duncan, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, as NewChief People Officer Arkansas Children’s has named Jimmy Duncan, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, as its new senior vice president and chief people officer. He leads the health sys- tem’s Human Resources division. Duncan joins Arkansas Children’s with strate- gic experience both in healthcare systems and private sectors like manufacturing, energy, and higher education. He currently serves as vice president of Human Resources for WellStar Ken- nestone Regional Medical Center, which is the flagship of Georgia’s largest healthcare system, located in Marietta. “Jimmy is ready to be a champion for children and is already encouraging the team to think about our values of safety, teamwork, compassion, and excellence in new and meaningful ways,” said Arkansas Children’s Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Chanda Chacon, MPH, FACHE. “We’re excited to see how he guides the Arkansas Children’s team’s ongoing journey to be an employer of choice for top talent to achieve their career aspirations.” Duncan’s career and recent accomplishments include leading the effort to win the prestigious Secretary of Labor Opportunity Award, building a corporate university, and championing cultural integration efforts resulting from growth acquisi- tions. He is passionate about growing talent and employee engagement, which have been hall- marks of his career success. Before serving with WellStar Kennestone, Dun- can held the position of system chief human resources officer for Tenet’s Atlanta market, where he led network integration and culture develop- ment of all health entities affiliated with Atlanta Medical Center. His undergraduate degree is from the Univer- sity of South Carolina, and he earned a master’s degree in organizational management at South- ern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina. UAMS Has State’s Only Pediatric OB-GYN Laura Hollenbach, MD, an assistant professor in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine, has become the first and only physician in Arkansas to be board-certi- fied in obstetrics-gynecology, with focused prac- tice designation in pediatric and adolescent gyne- cology. She mostly sees pediatric patients on the campus of Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where UAMS Department of Pediatrics faculty mem- bers practice. “It’s a relatively new specialty,” said Hollenbach, also the division director for pediatric and ado- lescent gynecology at Arkansas Children’s. “The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which certifies OB-GYNs in all subspecialties, has never had a separate examination for pediatric gynecology. But now it’s gotten large enough nationally that this is the first year they’ve offered it.” Pediatric gynecologists treat patients from birth to age 22. While there is some overlap with gen- eral gynecology, certain issues arise specific to children, from structural issues at birth, to early or late onset of puberty, that require specialized care, Hollenbach said. “Kids aren’t just small adults, so we can’t extrap- olate the way we treat adult women, with regard to gynecologic care, in the way we treat children. Specialty training in pediatric gynecology allows physicians to learn more about the special repro- ductive needs of children and adolescents,” she said. Candidates for the exam were required to meet a certain volume of cases in which they specifically treated children in both operative procedures and clinical care in order to sit for the exam. About 100 candidates were selected nationwide. “Since this is the first exam ever of its kind, even the people who were writing and contributing to the test had to take it,” Hollenbach said. “That’s kind of a weird phenomenon, but that’s because it was the first one.” Hollenbach, who was heavily influenced and mentored by Little Rock physician Karen Kozlowski in this area of practice, said it’s rewarding to be among such a small group in a field that has existed as a specific area of research and interest for some time, but is expanding the formalization to a recognized field of specialty care. Hollenbach said that she was drawn to and has grown to love her field for its interactions with people, both in teaching residents and students at UAMS and treating younger patients at Arkansas Children’s and statewide through telemedicine. “Working with children is rewarding in that you have a lot of opportunity to do preventive care and a lot of opportunity to do education,” she said. “While you can still do that in adult medi- cine, too, I feel you can have a bigger impact as they are still developing their habits and values and learning about themselves.” Hollenbach, a graduate of Hendrix College in Conway, received a medical degree from UAMS in 2008 and joined the faculty in 2012. In 2014 she began a two-year fellowship in pediatric gynecol- ogy at Cincinnati Children Hospital Medical Cen- ter and afterward returned to UAMS in her cur- rent position. n Laura Hollenbach, MD Jimmy Duncan, SHRM-SCP, SPHR