The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock is the only academic health sciences university in Arkansas. We are the state’s largest public employer, with more than 10,000 employees in 73 of Arkansas’ 75 counties. UAMS and its clinical affiliates, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the VA Medical Center, are an economic engine for the state with an annual economic impact of $3.92 billion.
UAMS offers 73 baccalaureates, master’s, doctoral, professional, and specialist degree programs and certificates through our Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions, Public Health, and graduate school. Students attend classes at the UAMS main campus in Little Rock and our regional campus in northwest Arkansas.
UAMS, with its intersection of education, research, and clinical programs, brings a unique capacity to lead health care improvement in Arkansas. Among its assets for leadership are its status as the only academic health center in the state, its statewide network of centers for public education and clinical outreach, its emphasis on population health, and its leadership in health informatics and statewide information technology. Also, UAMS has a unique capacity for translational research – speeding the rate at which research can inform clinical care and health improvement.
The mission of UAMS is to improve the health, health care, and well-being of Arkansans and others in the region, nation, and the world by:
- Educating current and future health professionals and the public.
- It provides high-quality, innovative, patient- and family-centered health care and provides specialized expertise not routinely available in community settings.
- Advancing knowledge in areas of human health and disease and translating and accelerating discoveries into health improvements.
The entire healthcare team relies on accredited continuing education to improve their practice and deliver high-quality, safe, effective patient care. Accredited educational activities address a full range of topics important to health care—from the latest medical research breakthroughs to providing patient-centered care.
We work with non-accredited health-related organizations, medical associations or societies, and other organizations to jointly provide accredited activities. We also provide different planning services, from instructional design and curriculum development to a range of meeting planning and management options.
Student success is a priority at UAMS. Our students are among the top in the nation, but sometimes they need a little assistance to maximize their academic performance. That is why we are here. We offer all UAMS students to help in achieving their academic goals.
UAMS research is key to scientific/medical innovation in Arkansas. Our primary and clinician-scientists transcribe cutting-edge research findings into new identification, treatment, and prevention methods for cancer, infectious disease, imaging, substance abuse, and behavioral problems, to name a few.
Researchers work with the American Heart/Stroke Association, Centers for Disease Control, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, Food, and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, and National Science Foundation, along with other national/international agencies and foundations to better the health of Arkansans.
Just a few weeks before Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb in October 1879, eight physicians pooled their money and invested $5,000 to start the first medical school in Arkansas. The eight founding physicians were led by Dr. P. O. Hooper of Little Rock, and the street where many patients and visitors now enter the UAMS campus is named in his honor.
The initial investment of $625 made by each of the founding physicians now represents nearly $4 billion in economic impact for Arkansas's state from UAMS and its affiliates every year. The former Sperindo Restaurant and Hotel in downtown Little Rock served as the first home for what was then known as the Medical Department of Arkansas Industrial University.
As enrollment grew into the 20th century, the school was housed in several different locations, including the Old State House in downtown Little Rock. A new medical school was built in the 1930s with funding provided by President Franklin Roosevelt’s Public Works Administration. Additional funding was provided by a tax on beer and liquor assessed by the Arkansas state legislature.
In 2014, UAMS opened the Neighborhood Clinic at Rahling Road, providing primary and specialty care to residents of one of the city’s fastest-growing areas. UAMS also launched its primary care service line in 2014, an organizational arrangement intended to better coordinate patient-centered services. A multidisciplinary Adult Sickle Cell Clinic and a multidisciplinary Adult Spina Bifida Clinic — both firsts for the state — were opened in 2014. It was a comprehensive rehabilitation clinic in northwest Arkansas, improving access to physical, occupational, and rehabilitative speech services.
Enrollment at UAMS’ Northwest Regional Campus reached 206 in 2014, including students in the colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Professions and hosting 32 family medicine resident physicians.
Today UAMS has programs operating in all 75 counties in the state, including eight UAMS Regional Centers, seven regional Centers on Aging, and one of the most successful Head Start programs in the nation.
Throughout all its advances and growth as Arkansas’ only academic medical center, UAMS has remained committed to promoting a better state of health.
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