Dec. 1, 2011 | The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and friends and family of the late Stanley Reed today announced the creation of an endowed chair that will support emergency medicine at UAMS and across Arkansas.

The Stanley E. Reed Memorial Chair in Emergency Medicine, Trauma & Injury Prevention will help UAMS build upon existing clinical expertise and training in emergency medicine and trauma system development, and support injury prevention efforts.

Reed, of Marianna, who died July 15, 2011, was a successful farmer, lawyer and businessman. He also was a devoted, longtime UAMS advocate. He chaired the Board of Visitors for the UAMS College of Medicine, served on the UAMS Foundation Fund Board, the Chancellor’s Circle and the UAMS Northwest Advisory Board. He was also a former member of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees.

The endowed chair was announced at The Peabody Little Rock during the annual meeting of the Arkansas Farm Bureau, of which Reed served as president from 2003 to 2008. Donations already exceed $245,000 toward the $1 million needed to fund an endowed chair, with the first publicly announced gift of $100,000 coming from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

The chair will reside in the College of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine, and the recipient of the chair will be announced after the $1 million goal has been reached.

“This is such an outstanding way to honor a man who was a true champion for Arkansas,” said UAMS College of Medicine Dean Debra H. Fiser, M.D. “Stanley was an advocate of the new statewide trauma system for Arkansas, so this endowment will truly carry on the legacy of a man whose mission in life was to help others, and he wanted all of our citizens to have ready access to high-quality medical care.”

Fiser said that a better trauma system along with improved emergency care expertise across the state will help address the No. 1 killer of Arkansans between the ages of 1 and 44: Injuries. The injury fatality rate is 30 percent higher than the national average and 70 percent higher with respect to deaths from motor vehicle accidents. Injuries also disproportionately affect rural populations.

“Stanley Reed shared our concern for the health and well-being of all Arkansans,” said Mark White, president and CEO of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “Like Arkansas Blue Cross, Stanley was committed to working toward the goal of making high-quality, affordable health care accessible to every Arkansan. He was particularly drawn to the health care needs of those residing in the rural areas of our state. Arkansas Blue Cross is honored to make the first contribution of $100,000 to the Stanley E. Reed Memorial Chair in Emergency Medicine, Trauma and Injury at UAMS. Because our rural communities are disproportionately impacted by motor vehicle and farming accidents and injuries, we believe it to be an important investment in Arkansas’ health and an appropriate tribute to a man who spent his life working for rural Arkansas.”

Authorized by the Arkansas General Assembly in 2009, the statewide trauma system connects hospitals, ambulance services and other emergency responders. It is designed to get patients to the hospital that is most appropriate for their injuries. Sometimes that is a hospital in the region where the injury occurs. Other times it is UAMS Medical Center, which in 2010 was the first hospital to be designated a Level I trauma center.

As leaders of the trauma system, Level I trauma centers like UAMS must have specialized surgeons on duty at all times to quickly care for the most serious and urgent cases. Level I centers also must include education, preventive and outreach programs as well as a program of trauma research.

An endowed chair is the highest academic honor that can be bestowed by a university on its faculty. The first named chairs were established in England in 1502, when Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, established the Lady Margaret Professorships of Divinity at Oxford and Cambridge. An endowed chair at UAMS is supported with designated gifts of $1 million or more. A donor may name a chair in memory of a loved one or to honor a person’s accomplishments.

Arkansas Farm Bureau is a nonprofit, private advocacy organization of more than 210,000 families throughout the state working to improve farm and rural life.