The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences was founded in 1879 by eight physicians. Today UAMS is the state’s only academic health center, part of a statewide network of postsecondary education institutions of the University of Arkansas System governed by a 10-member Board of Trustees.
ASPIRE 2033
By 2033, UAMS will redefine what a statewide academic health system can be — nationally distinguished and the driving force behind a healthier Arkansas.
Our Vision
ASPIRE 2033 is anchored by six strategic pillars that define how UAMS will advance its mission, strengthen its role as Arkansas’s academic medical center, and drive measurable improvements in health, access, and opportunity statewide. Together, these pillars translate our vision into focused, actionable priorities that align clinical care, education, research, and operations around a common purpose: to be nationally distinguished and the driving force behind a healthier Arkansas.
Each pillar reflects both a core responsibility and a strategic imperative for the next 7 years and beyond—addressing today’s most urgent challenges while positioning UAMS for long-term excellence. Collectively, they provide a cohesive roadmap for expanding access, elevating the experience of those we serve, strengthening financial and operational performance, accelerating innovation, building a resilient workforce, and leading in education and academic impact.
Six Strategic Pillars
- Access & Integration
- Service Excellence
- Performance & Growth
- Innovation & Discovery
- Readiness & Workforce
- Education & Academic Leadership
Education
- 3,553 students*
- 1,015 medical residents and fellows
- College of Nursing – 409 students*
- College of Medicine – 702 students*
- College of Health Professions – 1,726 students*
- College of Pharmacy – 333 students*
- College of Public Health – 153 students*
- Graduate School – 230 students*
* Fall 2025 - Nearly 2,200 faculty members plus nearly 700 volunteer or adjunct faculty members
- UAMS Northwest Regional Campus total enrollment 317
- College of Medicine – 77
- College of Pharmacy – 31
- College of Nursing – 25
- College of Health Professions – 184
- Number of Residents – 215 (not included in total enrollment)
Patient Care
- UAMS Medical Center – 62,167 emergency room visits; 26,564 hospital discharges; 23,677 surgical cases in FY 20245
- UAMS Health – 500,671 outpatient visits in FY 2025
- Family Medical Centers at nine Regional Campuses – 144,043 outpatient visits in FY 2025
- Hospital capacity – 559 beds, including: 455 adult beds, 64 newborn bassinets and 40 psychiatry beds
- The Orthopaedic & Spine Hospital opened in June 2023 and has 24 private rooms for overnight observation and inpatient stays.
- Only adult Level One Trauma Center in Arkansas
- Primary Care at two off-campus locations in Little Rock and one in Maumelle
- About 1,200 College of Medicine physicians provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System and Baptist Health
- UAMS provides maternal-fetal medicine specialists, cancer services and physical and rehabilitative medicine at Baptist Health
- UAMS provides orthopaedic services at Baptist Health in Conway
- Faculty physicians at eight Family Medical Centers provide care and supervise residents at UAMS Regional Campuses outside of central Arkansas
- Only adult sickle cell clinic in Arkansas
- Only adult spina bifida clinic in Arkansas
- Only ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) treatment center in Arkansas
- Only cord blood bank and adult blood stem cell collection unit in Arkansas
- Only liver and kidney transplant programs in Arkansas
- Liver and kidney transplant survival rates higher than national average
- First bone marrow transplant in Arkansas
- First accredited echocardiography lab for careful cardiac diagnosis
- Only high-risk pregnancy program in Arkansas with board-certified maternal-fetal specialists
- The Institute for Digital Health & Innovation is home to more than 30 digital health programs that use high-definition video and other technology to improve access to physicians with expertise in a diverse range of specialties from stroke care to maternal-fetal medicine to spine surgery and trauma.
- First medical facility in the United States to offer the SAINT® neuromodulation system, an innovative therapeutic treatment for major depressive disorder
- The Myeloma Center has treated more than 17,000 patients from every state and more than 50 countries.
- The Myeloma Center has performed more peripheral blood stem cell transplants for multiple myeloma than any center in the world.
- The expected five-year survival rate for newly diagnosed myeloma patients treated at the Myeloma Center is 74%, versus 43% for a comparable patient population in the NCI cancer statistics (SEER) database.
- Only facility in Arkansas to offer CAR T-Cell Therapy for myeloma and certain types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Arkansas’ first academic Phase 1 Cancer Clinical Trial Unit is located at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
- The Proton Center of Arkansas, a collaboration between UAMS, Arkansas Children’s, Baptist Health and Proton International, opened in September 2023. It is the first proton therapy center in the state and only the 43rd in the nation to provide the most advanced cancer radiation treatment in the world.
Research
- Brought in $244.9 million in total research funding across UAMS and UAMS researchers working in the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute and Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
- Ranks in top 15% of all U.S. Colleges & Universities in research funding from federal government
- More than 500,000 sq. ft. devoted to research on UAMS campus
- The BioVentures business incubator has created 54 companies since its beginning.
- Contributing to expand scientific knowledge: 4,418 articles in scientific journals included UAMS-affiliated authors in FY 2024-2025.
- Home to Arkansas Biosciences Institute, a research consortium of Arkansas institutions using funds from the state’s tobacco settlement on work to reduce or prevent smoking-related illness
- Translational Research Institute provides research support as part of a national effort to speed the pace of discovery and health improvement.
- UAMS has seven faculty members named either ARA Scholars or ARA Fellows by the Arkansas Research Alliance, which recruits highly respected researchers to Arkansas.
- Research Data Warehouse that facilitates clinical and translational research and houses clinical data on more than 850,000 patients
- J. Thomas May Center for ALS Research – only research for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Arkansas
- UAMS’ IDeA National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics is the first NIH National Resource in Arkansas and serves biomedical researchers across the nation.
Institutes
- Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute
- Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute
- Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging
- Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute
- Psychiatric Research Institute
- Translational Research Institute
- Institute for Digital Health and Innovation
- Institute for Community Health Innovation
Statewide Reach
- Eight Regional Campuses and a comprehensive Rural Hospital Program
- 11 KIDS FIRST Program Sites
- Regional campus in Northwest Arkansas
- Education programs for the Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Professions
- Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing Science (A-BSN) program
- Innovative three-year Primary Care Scholars M.D. training track
- Doctor of Physical Therapy program
- Doctor of Occupational Therapy program, offered in conjunction with the University of Arkansas
- Education programs for the Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Professions
- 50 Pediatric Subspecialty Clinics
- Head Start – 6 sites in Pulaski County serving 270 children ages 3-5 (Head Start), 128 infants and toddlers (Early Head Start) and 48 infants and toddlers and Pregnant People Home Visiting program
- The UAMS Milk Bank, the first facility of its kind in Arkansas, helps ensure a ready supply of donor milk for sick and vulnerable infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) around the state. A growing network of milk depots allows mothers around the state to donate their milk.
- Arkansas Poison and Drug Information Center takes 28,000 high acuity calls each year.
- The Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging has eight Centers on Aging located throughout Arkansas, all of which offer the Schmieding Home Caregiver Training Program.
- Digital Health Stroke Program connecting 63 rural Arkansas hospitals with stroke neurologists
- Digital Health High-Risk Pregnancy Program provides diagnosis and consultation through real-time virtual visits with 28 sites across Arkansas
- Arkansas e-Link – linking health, education, research and public safety by connecting 454 sites across the state to a 5,600-mile high-speed optical network making Arkansas one of the most well-connected states in the country
- The Psychiatric Research Institute’s Psych TLC program provides Arkansas’ primary care physicians with access by telephone to child and adolescent mental health expertise
Financials
- Budgeted Revenue for FY2026 – $2.5 Billion
- Patient Care – $1,521,137,014 – 60.32%
- Grants/Contracts – $450,270,020 – 17.85%
- Gifts and Other – $369,880,424 – 14.67%
- State Appropriations – $126,475,353 – 5.02%
- Tuition – $54,069,424 – 2.14%
Economic Impact*
- $ 4.5 billion/year economic impact – UAMS and affiliates Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
- The UAMS Regional Campuses generate 657 jobs and $87 million annually in economic impact across the state.
* TEConomy Partners LLC, 2015
Philanthropy
- Private philanthropy essential for critical growth and support of:
- Groundbreaking research in cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases affecting our state
- Innovations in health care and health care education
- Student scholarships
- Expansion and innovation in solid organ transplant, pioneering world-class care for organ transplant patients
- New and enhanced facilities
- State-of-the-art equipment
- Population health
- Children’s mental health
- Expansion of specialty care and clinical centers statewide
- Expansion of the Regional Campuses program and its health care curriculum
- Community outreach programs
- Recruitment and retention of national leaders in various medical specialties of need in Arkansas
- Technology and digital health to focus on health care in rural areas
- Childhood obesity
- Fundraising for FY 2025 totaled more than $22.6 million from 3,423 donors.
- UAMS receives donations from 70 of Arkansas’ 75 counties — an achievement that demonstrates statewide support for UAMS’ mission and its value to the people of Arkansas. Contributions are also received from donors in 39 states, the District of Columbia and one other country.
- Members of the 1879 Society, which recognizes legacy donors, committed nearly $6.4 million in gifts through their estates during FY25.
- To date, members of the Society of the Double Helix, which recognizes UAMS’ outstanding philanthropists, have collectively invested nearly $716.4 million in the work at UAMS.
- More than 425 volunteers donate their time, energies and talents each year.
Visit www.giving@uams.edu for more information