UAMS Teams with University of Arkansas Athletics for State’s First Sports Medicine Fellowship
| LITTLE ROCK — The state’s first sports medicine fellowship for family physicians, offering advanced training on diagnosis and treatment of sports-related illness and injury, will start this summer on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) northwest Arkansas campus with cooperation from the University of Arkansas Athletics Department and clinical partners.
Sports medicine fellows will gain clinical experience seeing patients at UAMS-affiliated clinics as well as working with University of Arkansas student-athletes while under supervision of UAMS faculty and clinical partners, including Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists, the official sports medicine provider for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
“Establishing this fellowship in northwest Arkansas supports the UAMS mission of health improvement for our state by addressing specific health needs of the region with the help of strategic clinical partnerships in a way that translates to better care for patients across the state,” said Robert Gullett, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon who is the assistant vice chancellor and director of the UAMS Northwest regional center and a leader in developing the program.
“Our sports medicine fellows will receive invaluable training, unmatched anywhere in the state thanks to our partners in this venture, Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists and the University of Arkansas Athletics Department,” Gullett said.
UAMS received accreditation for the fellowship in October 2014 from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Completing the fellowship will enable a physician to sit for the sports medicine subspecialty board exam conducted by the American Board of Family Medicine.
“Razorback Athletics is pleased to join with UAMS in supporting the sports medicine fellowship — seeking to improve the quality of medical care available to athletes at all levels in Arkansas,” said Jeff Long, vice chancellor and director of athletics at the University of Arkansas. “We are committed to ensuring our student-athletes receive the best preventive care and medical treatment available and are glad to have UAMS sports medicine fellows learn by working alongside our sports medicine team, Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists.”
Kyle Arthur, M.D., was selected as the first fellow in the program and will begin the one-year program in July after completing his family medicine residency at the UAMS northwest Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. In the future, UAMS will host two fellows annually.
“My goal is to have these physicians be leaders in their communities when it comes to providing top tier care and education to their patients, whether it’s the recreational athlete or someone competing in sports at any level,” said Ramon Ylanan, M.D., a physician with Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists who has been appointed an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine of the UAMS College of Medicine to serve as director for the sport medicine fellowship program.
“Our fellows will be able to help these patients get over acute injuries, teach them preventive measures to limit future injury and even offer exercise programs to patients with diabetes, hypertension or other chronic conditions.”
The fellowship provides physicians a year of experience focusing on the evaluation, management and treatment of a wide range of injuries and illnesses related to athletes and active lifestyles. The fellowship includes instruction on non-operative options related to musculoskeletal injuries along with the complexities of medical issues pertaining to athletes ranging from cardiac care to asthma to concussion, Ylanan said.
Gullett said one reason he felt strongly about starting the fellowship program was his own positive experience serving as the team doctor at Pine Bluff High School for about 25 years.
“Helping young athletes and their coaches enabled me to be closely connected to the community,” he said. “This describes my vision for our fellows.”
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###