News

To enable the University of Kentucky College of Medicine to succeed in its mission for a healthier Kentucky, leadership must prioritize the wellness and well-being of faculty, staff, and learners. Lisa Williams, MSSA, is serving in the college’s new leadership position, associate dean for wellness and well-being, to help us excel in this goal.

When Michael Samaan, PhD, completed his postdoctoral fellowship in 2018, he was eager to find a university where he could apply his knowledge in osteoarthritis and enhance his research skills.

All the way in California, where he was living at the time, the collaborative atmosphere and health care hub at the University of Kentucky drew him in.

Nearly two years ago, with funding from UK HealthCare and the vice president for research, the College of Medicine launched the Alliance Research Initiative. It has a mission, Vice Dean for Research Rebecca Dutch, PhD, explained, “to help spur on transdisciplinary research by pairing clinical and basic scientists together to answer new questions in new ways.”

The UK College of Medicine is excited to announce that Diana Heiman, MD, professor of family and community medicine, has been selected to serve as associate dean for faculty development and advancement.

Scott Mair, MD, is a professor of orthopaedic surgery at the UK College of Medicine. He is also one of the physicians who cares for players on the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team. In the spirit of March Madness, Dr. Mair answered questions about what a typical day as a team physician looks like, memories he has gathered over the years, and how this role impacts how he teaches residents and fellows.

Q: As team physician, what are your roles with the basketball team?

Kimberly Kaiser, MD, is an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine and family and community medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. She is also one of the physicians who provides care for the UK women’s basketball team. In the following Q&A, she shares more about her clinical expertise, her passion for sports medicine, and why her experience with UK Athletics has been so rewarding.

Q: As a team physician, what are your roles with the basketball team?

When Morehead State University men’s basketball player Tyzhaun Claude felt a snap during practice last year, he knew immediately something was wrong.

Claude’s team was in one of their final preseason practices before the season opener.

“We were doing a rebound drill and I went up to grab it and came down on my teammate’s foot,” Claude said.

The University of Kentucky football team has invigorated the campus community with one of the best seasons in the program’s recent history. In October, the Wildcats earned an exhilarating win over Florida, as well as a 21-point victory over 2019 national champion LSU.   

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.

After dedicating more than two years as interim chair of orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine has officially named Jeffrey Selby, MD, chair of his department. The promotion took effect Oct. 1. Dr. Selby has been a devoted physician and educator since joining the University of Kentucky as a faculty member in 2002 after graduating from the UK College of Medicine’s orthopaedic surgery residency program. Dr.

Becky Parsley fights forest fires. In the almost 10 years since she began full time work as a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service, she's been on the fire lines in 11 states, including her beloved Kentucky where she was born. She's wielded chainsaws and performed aerial ignition operations – starting controlled fires from helicopters to thin out forests at high risk of wildfires. But the scariest time in her life had nothing to do with fires. Becky and her husband were ready to welcome their first child.

The Orthopaedic Trauma Service research team in UK HealthCare’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine is comprised of a team that has made a tremendous impact despite being formed less than two years ago. The team, which includes Drs.

 The University of Kentucky Sports Medicine Research Institute (SMRI) received a $4 million research contract from the United States Department of Defense (DOD) and Office of Naval Research to expand research focused on determining optimal physical and mental fitness among elite U.S. military members.

For the last three years, the SMRI has worked with the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) human performance program at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to study injury prevention and create new ways to optimize physical performance in its personnel.

By Loretta Stafford, UKnow
Click here for the story on UKnow

Grace Mlachak has an undeniable passion for being active, with hobbies spanning the gamut from water sports to nature hikes. However, when she broke her femur in a wakeboarding accident in late 2008, the healing process did not go quite how anyone expected. Mlachak was left with a leg deformity that slowly worsened her mobility. After nearly a decade of pain and discomfort, she was referred to Dr. Paul Matuszewski with UK Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine. Now, Mlachak is back to enjoying a pain-free active lifestyle.

Every four years, people around the world gather around the television and spend two weeks watching a lifetimes worth of work play out. For the hundreds of athletes that comprise Team USA, the result of their blood, sweat and tears makes us feel pride, in our country and in our fellow countrymen. While the athletes take center stage there’s a team of people in the shadows treating pain, nursing illnesses and in some cases consoling athletes.

Surgeons aren't often chosen to participate in the John N. Insall Traveling Fellowship the first time they apply for consideration, but that wasn't the case for Dr. Stephen Duncan, assistant professor of orthpaedic surgery. Beginning in October, Duncan will travel to 11 centers, in 10 cities, across two countries to learn more about orthpaedic surgery and research.

Each day brings something different for Dr. Christian Lattermann; that’s one of the things that keeps him passionate about his job. As director of the Center for Cartilage Repair and Restoration at UK Sports Medicine, Lattermann treats patients, does community outreach, conducts research and mentors students.

Even though he’s a leader in the field, he’s not done learning; he says his patients teach him every day.

Dr. Christian Lattermann, director for Cartilage Repair and Restoration in the University of Kentucky Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, recently became the first person at UK HealthCare — as well as in Kentucky and in the Midwest — to perform a Matrix Associated Chondrocyte Implantation (MACI). The technology for this new procedures constitutes the first, and only new, cartilage technology to be approved by the U.S.

Working as a bedside nurse requires extensive physical effort — pushing wheelchairs and beds, twisting and lifting, and long periods on your feet. Jennifer Thomas, who's been a nurse at UK HealthCare for six years, can attest to this. In fact, it was while assisting a patient from a wheelchair that she badly injured the cartilage in her knee. "The pain was excruciating — a sharp, stabbing, burn," Thomas said. "It was constant regardless of sitting or walking.