LITTLE ROCK – A gastroenterologist recognized as one of the nation’s best the past three years has been named director of the gastroenterology program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). The program will add two more gastroenterologists in the next few months.

Kevin W. Olden, M.D., will start at UAMS on July 1 as director of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Levy Professor of Internal Medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine. For the past three years, Olden was named one of the top gastroenterologists by the America’s Top Doctors reference book, which highlights physicians nominated by peers as among the best in both patient care and research.

Farshad Aduli, M.D., also will join the UAMS faculty in July as an assistant professor of gastroenterology in the Department of Internal Medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine. Aduli, who received his medical degree from the University of Paris in France, will arrive at UAMS after completing a fellowship in gastroenterology at Tulane University in New Orleans.

William Jack Morton, M.D., will join the UAMS College of Medicine faculty as a clinical assistant professor of gastroenterology on May 1, when he also joins the medical staff at the UAMS teaching affiliate Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System. Morton will assist the UAMS Gastroenterology Fellowship Program.

“Dr. Olden’s extensive expertise and leadership experience will strengthen both our gastroenterology division and the gastroenterology fellowship program,” said James D. Marsh, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine. “At a time when medical schools are being impacted by a nationwide shortage of gastroenterologists, we are pleased to add three faculty members who will help our program continue to deliver the best clinical care, education and research.”

Olden has been a professor of medicine and psychiatry in the University of South Alabama College of Medicine and director of the Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders Clinic at the University of South Alabama Hospitals and Clinics in Mobile since 2004. Prior to that, he was associate chair of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., and associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at the Mayo Medical School.

He specializes in the treatment of digestive disorders, stomach ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome. His research interests include functional gastrointestinal and motility disorders, management of patients with combined medical and psychiatric disorders and the psychosocial aspects of hepatitis C.

Olden, who received his medical degree from State University of New York Downstate, is board certified in both gastroenterology and psychiatry and a member of numerous professional boards, including the editorial board of the American Journal of Gastroenterology. He has received numerous awards for teaching and clinical work, including the American College of Gastroenterology Clinical Scholar Award.

Aduli’s honors include serving as chief fellow in the gastroenterology fellowship program at Tulane in 2005-2006. He received the most outstanding resident award at Tulane in 2002-2003.

Morton, a board-certified gastroenterologist, received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas. He previously worked as a staff physician at the Little Rock Diagnostic Clinic.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,320 students and 690 medical residents. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with almost 9,000 employees, including nearly 1,000 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the VA Medical Center. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $4.4 billion a year.