Award honors lifetime contribution to rural health in Kentucky 

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Tina McCormick
krha@twc.com
(270) 577-1707

September 21, 2016 – The Kentucky Rural Health Association (KRHA), which is dedicated to improving the health status of rural Kentuckians through education and advocacy, has announced the 2016 Dan Martin Award recipient, Dr. Fran Feltner.

Weisi Fu successfully defended her dissertation on Thursday, September 29, 2016

Doctoral Committee Members

Dr. Bradley K. Taylor
Mentor, Department of Physiology

Dr. Karin W. High
Department of Physiology

Dr. Gregory Frolenkov
Department of Physiology

Dr. Kimberly Nixon
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Outside Examiner
Dr. Gregory Bix
Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology

Concerns about privacy, safety, stigmatization and quality of care have deterred members of the LGBTQ community from accessing health care services and resources. Disengagement from the health care system has contributed to many health disparities affecting the LGBTQ population.

Robin Shoemaker-Council on Hypertension Awardee. The American Heart Association held its annual Council on Hypertension session September 14-17th in Orlando, Florida. Our congratulations to Dr. Robin Shoemaker for winning an award in the Postdoctoral category entitled “Mas Receptor Deficiency Promotes Hypertension in Obese Female Mice and Cardiac Dysfunction in Obese Male Mice”. The Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences was well represented as Drs.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bluegrass (RMHC) recently honored Dr. Carmel Wallace, chair of the University of Kentucky Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief of Kentucky Children’s Hospital, with the 2016 Elizabeth Carey Nahra Legacy of Love Award. The award recognizes an organization or individual whose exceptional contributions or projects have enabled the Ronald McDonald House of the Bluegrass to assist families of children hospitalized at Kentucky Children’s Hospital (KCH).
University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) is hosting its sixth annual Markesbery Symposium on Aging and Dementia on Nov. 4-5. This two-day program will offer sessions for both the scientific and community audiences. Clinicians and researchers from UK and other institutions will come together to share current findings, trends and the latest updates on dementia and aging disorders, particularly as related to Alzheimer’s disease. The Markesbery Symposium is in honor of the late Dr. William R.

REMINDER:  For any chair/director and department/center administrator that received an email from Susan Stark on August 9 regarding RA Tuition for the Fall 2016 semester, or if you have hired a Graduate Student Research Assistant to work in your lab since that date and they’re being paid from grant funds, please be sure to contact your

Dr. Ginny Sprang, professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Psychiatry and executive director of UK’s Center on Trauma and Children (CTAC), has been awarded a $2 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. When Sprang began her research she focused on the field of traumatic stress, investigating event-specific factors that influenced how trauma manifested in people of all ages. Her experience as a psychotherapist working with violence exposed children began to shape the trauma research she conducted.


Congratulations to Dr. Florin Despa and colleagues for receiving TWO new grants to study the pathology of amylin dysregulation in neurodegenerative and/or vascular disease. His new NIH R01 is entitled “Role of Systemic Amylin Dyshomeostasis in Alzheimer’s Disease” and his AHA award is entitled “Amylin Vasculopathy, A Therapeutic Target to Reduce Stroke”.

Robert DiPaola, dean of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, was featured during "UK at the Half" that aired during the UK at Florida football game, broadcast on radio Sept. 10.

DiPaola, who came to UK March 1, talks about his impressions of the college and the university, including the collaborative nature, strong leadership and strength of faculty.