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  1. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  2. Graduate School
  3. 2024 Winter Awards Reception

2024 Winter Awards Reception

Publications 

Melanie Boyd, a Ph.D. candidate in the Health Systems and Services Research program at the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health and Graduate School, recently published a first-author paper with her research team. Read the research paper in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Research & Travel Awards 

  • Khandoker Usran Ferdous (GPIBS — Pathobiology) was awarded the Cancer Therapeutics Pilot Project Procedural Grant and received a Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Core Travel Grant Award to the 2024 Cancer Biology Training Consortium. 
  • Alicen James (GPIBS — Cell Biology & Physiology) received the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research Young Investigator Award. 
  • Lachan Siebenmorgen (Health Promotion & Prevention Research) received the Maternal and Child Health Research Scholar Award.
  • Alaa Marwan Abu Taha (Biomedical Informatics) was awarded the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Toxicology and the Division of Chemical Information Travel Award for the ACS National Meeting. 
  • Lokesh Akana (GPIBS — Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) received the IDeA proteomic internship from UAMS proteomic core and a Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Travel Award. 
  • Dannis Armikarina (Nursing Science) was awarded 2024 Great 100 Nurses of Arkansas, the 2024 Arkansas Center for Nursing 40 Nurse Leaders Under 40, and was selected as the UAMS liaison for the Graduate Nursing School Academy by the American Associations of Colleges of Nursing. 
  • Larrey Enoch (Bioinformatics) received the Radiation Research Society Scholar in Training Award. 
  • Rachel Hale (Health Promotion and Prevention Research) was awarded the Maternal and Child Health Scholarship.
  • Md. Enamul Hoq (Biomedical Informatics) was awarded the Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine Scholarship and received a Society of Critical Care Medicine Travel Grant.
  • Grishma KC (Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy) was in the Top 5% of finalists for two abstracts and a Spotlight Presentation at The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 2024.
  • Catherine Kirkpatrick (M.D./Ph.D. program) won the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Retreat Outstanding Graduate Student Poster Award. 
  • Adam Kleinerman (Health Promotion and Prevention Research) was awarded a Maternal and Child Health Research scholarship.
  • Philmar Mendoza Kabua (Nursing Science) received the Dr. Elois Field Nursing Endowed Scholarship.
  • Christoph Mora (GPIBS — Pharmacology, Toxicology & Experimental Therapeutics) received an International Society of Hypertension Travel Award. 
  • Laura Osborn (GPIBS — Pharmacology, Toxicology & Experimental Therapeutics) received a Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Travel Award for the International Association for the Study of Pain World Congress on Pain. 
  • Pritam Saha Podder (Pharmaceutical Sciences) won second place for the poster presentation from the UAMS American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences student chapter. 
  • Taiquitha Robins (Biomedical Informatics) was awarded a Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Travel Award and received an honorable mention at the Conductor Innovation Sprint. 
  • Aubree Seibert-Jeffrey (Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy) was awarded the Class of 2013 Endowed Scholarship from the UAMS College of Pharmacy and Rho Chi Honors Society Induction. 
  • Lakyn Webb (Nursing Science) took third-place poster at the International Association of Forensic Nurses Conference and was nominated as one of the 2024 Arkansas Center for Nursing 40 Nurse Leaders Under 40. 
  • Filmon Wolde (Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy) received the AbbVie Summer Internship. 

Fellowship Initiative for Research Excellence (FIRE)Awards

The FIRE program offers a one-time $5000 scholarship paymentto trainees who are awarded an extramural fellowship. The scholarship funds will be provided by the FIRE Fund and can only be received once even if multiple fellowships are awarded. Learn More

  • Amie Brint, Katherine Deck, Carol Morris  

Successful Grant Submissions 

  • Sydnye Shuttleworth, Laura Osborn, Journey Eubank, Madison McGraw, Christoph Mora, Randall Rainwater, Reham Sewilam, Tsigereda Weldemichael  

Research Induction Ceremony for Ph.D. Candidates on Sept. 24, 2024 

Bioinformatics 

  • Brian Delavan (David Ussery, Ph.D., professor in the College of Medicine Department of Biomedical Informatics) 

Biomedical Informatics 

  • Journey Eubank (Fred Prior, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the College of Medicine) 
  • Md. Enamul Hoq (Fred Prior, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the College of Medicine) 

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 

  • Lokesh Akana (Adam Wolfe, M.D., PhD., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology) 
  • Jaycelyn Hall (Craig Porter, Ph.D., professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics) 
  • Emory Malone (Wayne Wahls, Ph.D., professor in the College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) 
  • Benjamin May (Alicia K. Byrd, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) 
  • Kennith Swafford (Samantha Kendrick, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) 

Cell Biology and Physiology 

  • Ana Resende Coelho (Maria Schuller De Almeida, Ph.D., professor in the College of Medicine Departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Internal Medicine Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Orthopaedic Surgery) 
  • Alicen W. James (Melda Onal, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Physiology and Cell Biology) 

Clinical and Translational Sciences 

  • Jennifer Rumpel, M.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics (Robert E. McGehee Jr., Ph.D.; Corey Nagel, Ph.D., MPH, RN, assistant professor in the College of Nursing Department of Biostatistics) 

Epidemiology 

  • Anita Joshl (Mohammed S. Orloff, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Public Health Department of Epidemiology) 

Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences (GPIBS), Pathobiology 

  • Usran Ferdous (Bolni Marius Nagalo, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pathology) 

Health Promotion and Prevention Research  

  • Alice Alexandra Gardner (Tiffany Haynes, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Public Health Department of Health Behavior and Health Education; Dina Jones, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Public Health Department of Health Behavior and Health Education) 
  • Ishu Karki (S. Alexandra Marshall, Ph.D., MPH, [YC1] associate professor and chair in the College of Public Health Department of Health Behavior and Health Education) 
  • Lachan E. Siebenmorgen (S. Alexandra Marshall, Ph.D., MPH, associate professor and chair in the College of Public Health Department of Health Behavior and Health Education) 

Health Systems and Services Research 

  • Melanie Boyd (Clare Brown, Ph.D., MPH, associate professor in the College of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management; Kelsey Owsley, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management) 
  • Roberto J. Bravo (Jure Baloh, Ph.D., MHA, associate professor in the in the College of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management) 
  • Aygul Tarlan (Mandana Rezaeiahari, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management) 
  • William P. Watson (Clare Brown, Ph.D., MPH, associate professor in the College of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management) 

Microbiology and Immunology 

  • Meghan Jones (Jason Stumhofer, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Medicine Department of Microbiology & Immunology) 
  • Clayton Matthews (Karl Boehme, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Medicine Department of Microbiology & Immunology) 
  • Kathleen Pierce (Daniel Voth, Ph.D., vice chancellor for Research and Innovation and professor and chair of the College of Medicine Department of Microbiology & Immunology) 

Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy 

  • Nahed O. Elhassan, M.D., MPH, professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics (Bradley C. Martin, Pharm.D., Ph.D., professor in the College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Practice) 
  • Ruston Koonce (Bradley C. Martin, Pharm.D., Ph.D., professor in the College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Practices) 

Pharmaceutical Sciences 

  • Christopher Godwin (Nukhet Aykin-Burns, Ph.D., associate professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy) 
  • Baha’a Jabali (Brendan Frett, Ph.D., assistant professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy) 
  • Tsigereda Weldemichael (Antiño R. Allen, Ph.D., associate dean of Pipeline and Career Development in the Graduate School and professor in the College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences) 

Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Experimental Therapeutics 

  • Jovan Grujičić (Antiño Allen, Ph.D., associate dean of Pipeline and Career Development in the Graduate School and professor in the College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences)

Posted by Chadley Uekman on June 2, 2025

Filed Under: President Message

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