UAMS Researchers Receive $200K for Projects

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Translational Research Institute has approved awards for four researchers totaling $200,000.

The annual awards of up to $50,000 each are made to projects with the strongest likelihood of leading to improved health and health care. This is the first year the institute has offered offered them for projects focused on implementation science.

Implementation science is the study of methods to promote integrating research findings and other evidence-based practices into routine practice to improve the quality and effectiveness of health services.

The receipients, who were selected by a committee of internal, external and community reviewers, are:

• Pearl McElfish, associate vice chancellor of the UAMS Northwest Campus; director of the Office of Community Health & Research, co-director of the Center for Pacific Islander Health and assistant professor of internal medicine. Her project is called “Implementation of Family model DSME in an Underserved Marshallese Population in a Clinical Setting.”
• Benjamin Teeter, assistant professor of pharmacy practice. His project is called “Testing Implementation Strategies to Support Community Pharmacist-Initiated Prescription and Distribution of Naloxone to Reduce Overdose by Opioids.”
• Jeremy Thomas, associate professor of pharmacy practice. His project is called “Implementation of Clinical Pharmacy Services Delivered via Telehealth to Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers.”
• Kristin Zorn, associate professor of gynecology and genetics. Her project is called “An Implementation Strategy to Increase Appropriate Referrals for Genetic Counseling and Testing Among Patients at High Risk for Hereditary Cancer Syndromes.”