The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has received a $500,000 gift to support the creation of a new regional campus in El Dorado. The donor asked to remain anonymous, according to a news release from the medical school, which has its main campus in Little Rock.
UAMS currently has eight regional campuses — in Batesville, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Helena-West Helena, Jonesboro, Magnolia, Pine Bluff and Texarkana. This gift establishes the Dr. David M. Yocum III El Dorado Regional Program Fund for Excellence, which is dedicated to building a regional campus in El Dorado. Yocum, one of the first thoracic surgeons in Arkansas and an El Dorado native, died in 2012.
The majority of family practice physicians in rural areas of the state are trained at one of UAMS’ eight regional campuses, according to the news release. Regional campuses, originally called Area Health Education Centers, began in 1973 through the efforts of then-Gov. Dale Bumpers, the Arkansas Legislature and UAMS to train medical residents and provide clinical care and health education services around the state.