News

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine is excited to announce the appointment of faculty members Sarah Marks, MD, MA, and Jordan Clay, MD, to serve on its committees. The electeds have been endorsed by the College of Medicine acting dean and Faculty Council. They will serve three-year terms on their respective committees.

Dr. Marks has been appointed to the College of Medicine Admissions Committee. Dr. Clay has been appointed to the College of Medicine Medical Student Curriculum Committee.

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine is pleased to announce the faculty, staff, and learner winners of the inaugural Mission, Vision, Pillar, and Enabler Awards.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 17, 2022) — This year, the Martin Luther King (MLK) Center at the University of Kentucky celebrated 35 years on campus. To commemorate the occasion, the MLK Center hosted several events highlighting the historic milestone. Included in the event calendar was the inaugural Living Legacy Award ceremony.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 3, 2021) — About one year ago, Lowell ‘Tom’ Coots Jr. was experiencing debilitating tremors and episodes of confusion. Because of his health issues, the former accountant was forced to end his career.

“I had to retire. I had to sell my practice,” he said. “I had 420 clients and there was no way my wife, Linda, could pick up all those clients.”

He didn’t know it at the time, but a medication meant to help a sudden medical condition was actually causing him more harm than good.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 30, 2021) — The UK HealthCare/Norton Healthcare – Stroke Care Network (SCN) is announcing its 37th affiliate as Mercy Health – Marcum and Wallace Hospital joins the system.

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine has received the 2021 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

Pamela Branson has been a nurse for 40 years, 35 of those working at the University of Kentucky. After long days treating patients, she always turned to golf as a way to escape the stress.

So, when she couldn’t garner the energy to make it to the course in 2018, she knew something was wrong.

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine has developed into a research powerhouse helping find solutions to Kentucky’s most urgent health needs.

Clinical research is vital in bringing important findings from the laboratory into the clinic to improve patient treatment. To continue to strengthen its research capabilities, the college is excited to share its selection to fill a newly created position, associate dean for clinical research.

Larry B. Goldstein, MD, chair of neurology, has been chosen to take on this role. He will begin Sept. 1.

Jagannadha “Jay” Avasarala, MD, PhD, has been selected to represent the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in an international group reviewing disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 30, 2021) — The University of Kentucky’s Neuroscience Research Priority Area (NRPA) supports a "collaborative matrix," bringing together diverse groups of investigators, trainees and research groups from nine different colleges across the University of Kentucky campus.

LEXINGTON, Ky.

Meriem Bensalem-Owen, MD, and Brian Gold, PhD, might not have ever had the chance to work on projects together. Dr. Bensalem-Owen is a physician who spends much of her time at the patients’ bedside, reviewing video-EEG monitoring studies, or in clinic treating patients with epilepsy, and Dr. Gold is a researcher who studies age-related brain and cognitive changes in the lab.

But thanks to the University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s Alliance Research Initiative, they have joined forces to better localize, and ultimately treat, epileptic seizures.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 11, 2021) — Dr. Jay Avasarala, professor of neurology and director of the University of Kentucky’s Multiple Sclerosis Clinic, and co-authors, conducted a retrospective study in which they evaluated approximately 96.5 million enrollees in a database. More than 200,000 of the enrollees had inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The research focused on looking at the effect of TNF-alpha inhibitors, biologic agents, used in IBD treatment on the probability of developing Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 5, 2021) — Collaborative research between the University of Kentucky and the University of Southern California (USC) suggests that a noninvasive neuroimaging technique may index early-stage blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction associated with small vessel disease (SVD). Cerebral SVD is the most common cause of vascular cognitive impairment, with a significant proportion of cases going on to develop dementia.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 16, 2021) —  Dr. Larry Goldstein, chair of the University of Kentucky Department of Neurology, has been elected to serve on the board of directors of The American Academy of Neurology (AAN). Goldstein also is co-director of the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute, co-director of the UK Neuroscience Research Priority Area and interim director of the UK-Norton Healthcare Stroke Care Network.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 14, 2021) — UK HealthCare’s Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Center, a part of the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute, is celebrating one of its biggest achievements since it was created about three decades ago.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 12, 2021) — Four outstanding recipients who profoundly contribute to issues that affect women at the University of Kentucky and across the Commonwealth received the Sarah Bennett Holmes Award Tuesday, March 23, during a virtual awards ceremony. Christina Walker, staff winner; Hana Khamfroush, faculty winner; Mel Lesch, graduate student winner; and UK Department of Neurology's Wellness and Resiliency Committee, team winner, received the 2021 Sarah Bennett Holmes Award.

On behalf of the Office of Faculty Affairs and Development, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine is pleased to announce that Sally Mathias, MD, and Sylvia Ofei, MD, MPH, have been selected as fellows for the 2021 Bluegrass Higher Education Consortium Academic Leadership Academy (BHEC-ALA).

Dr. Mathias and Dr. Ofei will join a total of 63 faculty members at the University of Kentucky who have previously participated in this regional academic leadership program.

Ima Ebong, MD, MS, assistant professor in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Department of Neurology, was recently named one of “1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America” in a list published by Cell Mentor, an online resource for researchers.

The list, compiled by The Community of Scholars, recognizes the significant contributions Black scientists have made in research.

PLAY VIDEO: Dr. Daniel O. Lee, Kentucky Neuroscience Institute Medical Director, explains how he found a solution to cure a case of encephalitis, a swelling in the brain, caused by COVID-19

Shelby Ponder thought her bout with COVID-19 was nothing to write home about: her mild, strep-like symptoms cleared up in a few days.