What’s In a Name?
The Arkansas Arts Center is no more. Instead, the pillar of the state’s arts community has a new, but familiar name: the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.
A nod to the institution’s original 1937 title, simply the Museum of Fine Arts, the announcement also included a new fundraising goal of $142 million after the currently-under-construction AMFA surpassed its previous goal of $128 million.
“We are bringing the very best of art and architecture to Little Rock,” AMFA executive director Victoria Ramirez says of the museum set to reopen in 2022. “We are also able to show more art, including contemporary works, in the galleries, in hidden corners throughout the building and grounds. The new building launches a new era of programming and exhibitions for the museum.”
A New Hope
CARTI, one of the state’s leading cancer care providers, is expanding its offerings by adding an on-site surgery center to its Little Rock campus.
The 35,000-square-foot CARTI Surgery Center will be led by a multi-specialty surgery team and will include four operating rooms, two procedure rooms and space for extended stay capabilities.
According to Dr. Scott Stern, CARTI’s chief medical director and head and neck oncologic surgeon, the center will help expand the range of surgical procedures CARTI can provide.
“From reduced costs to expedited recovery times, research shows that patients benefit from a surgical setting that encourages mobility and safe recovery outside of a hospital setting, which is incredibly important to our vulnerable patient population,” Stern says. “This is the future of cancer surgery.”
The CARTI Surgery Center is projected to wrap up construction by fall 2022.
Big Moves
Little Rock’s medical scene has a lot of new faces in new roles. Here are a few of the notables:
• Erin Parker, senior VP and CIO at Arkansas Children’s
• Robin Liston, executive director of the UAMS Translational Research Institute
• Dr. Naga Saranya Addepally, gastroenterologist at the CHI St. Vincent Diagnostic Clinic
• Dr. Anton Lishmanov, cardiologist at Arkansas Heart Hospital
• Dr. Jennifer Laudadio, chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Services in the UAMS College of Medicine
• Shannon Boshears, VP and CPO at Arkansas Hospice