The PRI Journal is a blog that highlights some of the latest news and innovations at the Psychiatric Research Institute. The Journal is designed to inform and enlighten the readers about all the faculty, staff and trainees of PRI are doing to improve the mental health of our community, state and region.
Carey Named To Great 100 Nurses of Arkansas
Congratulations to Tracey Carey, RN, of PRI’s Women’s Mental Health Program, on being named one of the 2025 Great 100 Nurses of Arkansas. The Great 100 Nurses Foundation was founded in Louisiana 39 years ago and honors nurses in Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma as well as Arkansas. The honorees are chosen based on their concern for humanity, their contributions to the profession of Nursing and their mentoring of others. Carey and the other honorees, 20 in all from UAMS, will be recognized at a dinner Sept. 23 at the Embassy Suites hotel in Little Rock.
Faculty Recognized For Promotions
Congratulations to all of the PRI faculty who were recognized for receiving promotions during the most recent College of Medicine’s Dean’s Honor Day ceremony. Lou Ann Eads, M.D., and Sara J. Landes, Ph.D., were promoted to professor while Veronica Raney, M.D., Hannah Williams, M.D., and Ming Hwei Yek, Psy.D., were promoted to associate professor. READ MORE
Nurses Integral To Behavioral Health
PRI’s Senior Nursing Director Penny Ward, MScN, RN, CPN, discussed the role of psychiatric nurses with Mak Millard of Arkansas Money & Politics. When it comes to patients who require hospitalization, psychiatric nurses are “the backbone of that inpatient stay.” READ MORE
Psychiatry Sponsors El-Hai Lecture
Journalist Jack El-Hai was the featured speaker at the most recent segment of the UAMS History of Medicine and Science lecture series, held April 24 at the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute. The lecture, sponsored by the departments of Psychiatry and Neurosurgery, was entitled “Lobotomies and War Crimes: The Medical Paths of Walter Freeman and Douglas M. Kelley.” READ MORE
James Leads Arkansas Brain Bee
Andrew James, Ph.D., director of PRI’s Brain Imaging Research Center, was the moderator and proctor at the Arkansas Brain Bee, sponsored by the Arkansas chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. The competition, held April 1 at the Roosevelt Thompson Library in Little Rock, featured students from Little Rock Central High School and the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts in Hot Springs. The students answered written questions about the brain and related topics, with the top five finishers advancing to an oral exam. Sohan Jayappa of Little Rock Central won the competition and will go on to compete in the USA Brain Bee, to be held May 2-4 at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
PRI Personnel Part of MS Symposium
The UAMS Multiple Sclerosis Symposium, held March 15 at the Reynolds Institute on Aging, included a number of PRI personnel involved in the development and presentation of the event. READ MORE
Former Intern Awarded Scholarship
A second-year UAMS College of Medicine student and former intern in the UAMS Addiction Research Training Program, which is based at PRI, recently received a Gates Cambridge scholarship to complete the Ph.D. portion of her M.D./Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England. READ MORE…
PRI’s Elliott Named UAMS MVP
Naomi Elliott, LCSW, a case manager on PRI’s women’s inpatient unit, was named the UAMS MVP for the month of February. READ MORE…