Vol. 2, No. 2 Jan. 25, 2019
Cancer Institute Member Spotlight
J. Craig Forrest, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
|
|
|
|
|
Dr. Forrest (third from left) and his research team are working to understand how gammaherpesviruses (GHVs) cause disease. GHVs are DNA tumor viruses that include the human pathogens Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the virus that causes mono, and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), a serious problem in immune compromised patients. Read more>
|
|
|
State Sen. Missy Irvin of Mountain View gives a thumbs up after announcing legislative support for the UAMS Cancer Institute’s quest to achieve NCI Designation.
Starting the Conversation about NCI Designation
On Jan. 23, the Republican Women’s Legislative Caucus of the Arkansas Legislature announced five initiatives for the 2019 legislative session. One initiative in their line-up was a vow to support and rally backing from their fellow lawmakers to help the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute achieve NCI Designation. No details were given regarding the timeline or what this support would look like, but this was the beginning of a very exciting conversation at the state Capitol.
This same conversation has buzzed in other arenas for several months. Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, has led many conversations about his support for NCI Designation in different venues since joining UAMS. Cancer Institute Interim Director Laura Hutchins, M.D., has given numerous talks to a wide variety of audiences over the past few months about the merits of NCI Designation. The UAMS and Cancer Institute Foundation boards have also given donors the opportunity to help support NCI Designation.
What can you do?
YOU are our scientists. YOU are the reason NCI Designation is possible. YOU have the opportunity to be ambassadors and educators. When people ask about your research, tell them what you do, and explain how your work and discoveries are a part of the full cancer research spectrum with the ultimate end goal of improving the lives of cancer patients. Better yet, look for opportunities to talk to people about your research – your neighbors, your community, your professional partners across the state.
Over the next few months, we’ll have a regular series on NCI Designation in this newsletter. These articles will be bits of information essential to understanding our process and purpose in pursuing NCI Designation. We hope this series will help you better understand where we are going as an institute over the next few years and equip you to have educational conversations with your coworkers, family and friends.
|
|
Welcome New Cancer Institute Members
In 2018, we welcomed 13 new members into the Cancer Institute – 12 associate members and one full member. If you’re a longstanding Cancer Institute member, please welcome our new members. If you’re one of our new class of 13, please let us know how we can better serve you by emailing Dorothy Graves, Ph.D., at dagraves@uams.edu.
Michael Bauer, Ph.D.
Milan Bimali, M.S., Ph.D.
Marie Burdine, Ph.D.
Brendan Frett, Ph.D.
Kristie Hadden, M.S., Ph.D.
Margarete Kulik, Ph.D.
Justin Wai Leung, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Xiangyang Lou, Ph.D.
Yawei Qiang, M.D., Ph.D.
Zhiqiang Qin, M.D., Ph.D.*
Isabelle Racinemiousse, Ph.D.
Analiz Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D.
Amanda Stolarz, Ph.D.
*Full member
|
|
|
|
