UAMS receives $11 million for new clinics, building upgrades

The Little Rock-based University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received $11 million in federal grants to create a gastroenterology clinic and endoscopy center in the nearby Freeway Medical Tower and upgrade the Monroe Building on its Little Rock campus.

A U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant totaling $8 million will support the transformation of 15,000 square feet of unused UAMS-owned space on the seventh floor of the Freeway Medical Tower into the new gastroenterology clinic and advanced endoscopy outpatient center.

The gastroenterology clinic will occupy 9,000 square feet of the space and will include 14 exam rooms. It will also include separate spaces for infusion therapy, minor procedures and phlebotomy, as well as workrooms for doctors and nurses, faculty offices, a reception area, a waiting room and staff support spaces.

The new advanced endoscopy space will cover 6,000 square feet of the space and will include three or four endoscopy procedure rooms, patient prep and recovery areas, a space for sterile processing, a reception area, faculty offices and staff support areas. The new clinic is designed to improve patient flow and maximize physician productivity, as well as help recruit more highly trained gastrointestinal experts to UAMS.

Located near the campus at 5800 W. 10th St., the Freeway building already houses other UAMS clinics and programs that are part of its academic, clinical and research missions. Construction is slated to begin in June 2025.

“We are very grateful for these construction grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA),” said Christina Clark, UAMS vice chancellor for institutional support services and chief operating officer. “They will allow UAMS to continue with its mission to improve the health of all Arkansans through much needed, high quality, easily accessible services.”

A separate $3 million HRSA grant will fundmechanical, electrical, plumbing and roofing work to the aging Monroe building. This would allow full use of the building’s space, possibly for the expansion of Milk Bank programs, such as by creating a maternal education center for lactation visits, and education and training for health care providers.

The Milk Bank opened last year in 5,000 square feet of the 50,000-square-foot Monroe Building on Jonesboro Drive, near the Ray Winder parking lot. It has helped provide a supply of donor milk for sick and vulnerable infants in neonatal intensive care units statewide, as part of UAMS’ efforts to improve Arkansas’ maternal and infant mortality rates, which are among the highest in the nation.