DRS. G. RICHARD SMITH, LINDA MCGHEE HONORED WITH DR. TOM BRUCE ARKANSAS HEALTH IMPACT AWARD

LITTLE ROCK ― The board of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement on Monday honored Drs. G. Richard Smith and Linda McGhee as the 2024 recipients of the Dr. Tom Bruce Arkansas Health Impact Award. The annual award recognizes individuals who have had outstanding impacts on the health of Arkansans.

Smith had served on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences faculty and been a leader in psychiatry in Arkansas for more than three decades when he was appointed as dean and vice chancellor of the UAMS College of Medicine in 2013. He led the effort to establish the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute and served as its founding director. Smith also served as the founding director of ACHI.

Long active in research, Smith developed several highly regarded programs at UAMS, including the Division of Health Services Research. He retired in 2021 but came out of retirement to serve as interim dean of the College of Medicine from January 2023 to February 2024.

McGhee, a family medical physician at the UAMS Family Medical Center in Fayetteville, has worked for UAMS Northwest since 1978. As an associate professor with the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, she has worked for more than 45 years to train residents and prepare future family physicians to provide care for Arkansans throughout the state. McGhee has also served as president of the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians, vice chair of the Arkansas Minority Health Commission, and a member of the Arkansas State Board of Health and the Arkansas State Medical Board.

At the beginning of the HIV/AIDS crisis, McGhee led in the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients and continues to serve on several community, county and state boards related to this issue. Since 1992, she has been the medical director of the Washington County HIV Clinic, the first county HIV clinic in Arkansas.

ACHI President and CEO Dr. Joe Thompson presented the awards to Drs. Smith and McGhee on behalf of the ACHI Health Policy Board during the annual Friends of ACHI Appreciation Event, which was held Monday evening at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock.

“Both of our honorees have exhibited selfless dedication and unwavering commitment to improving the health of Arkansans,” Thompson said. “Dr. Smith championed health services research in our state, brought inpatient psychiatric beds back to UAMS and led in the establishment of so many institutions that will work to improve public health for generations to come. Dr. McGhee’s insight, training and mentorship have benefited generations of family physicians and the communities they serve, and that is in addition to her work with HIV/AIDS patients, Northwest Arkansas’ Marshallese community and so many others. It is an honor to present each honoree with this year’s Dr. Tom Bruce Arkansas Health Impact Award.”

The late Dr. Tom Bruce, dean of the UAMS College of Medicine for more than a decade and a pioneer in the field of community-based public health, was a national leader in community health and a champion of rural health and health system improvement in Arkansas. The award named for Bruce recognizes individuals who embody his lifetime of service by demonstrating courageous leadership, serving as catalysts for improving the health of all Arkansans, and exemplifying the core values of ACHI: trust, commitment, innovation and initiative.

ACHI is a nonpartisan, independent health policy center that serves as a catalyst for improving the health of all Arkansans through evidence-based research, public issue advocacy and collaborative program development. See more at achi.net.