Carl L. Nelson, M.D., Is the First Pat and Willard Walker Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery

08-13-02  (Little Rock) Thanks to a gift of $1 million from one of Arkansas’s leading philanthropic families, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will continue its internationally-renowned work on hip and knee replacement in perpetuity. Carl L. Nelson, M.D., became the first Pat and Willard Walker Chair

Pat Walker of Springdale and Dr. Carl Nelson Enlarge image  (JohnPaul Jones)

in Orthopaedic Surgery in a ceremony Fri. morning, Aug. 9, at UAMS. The Walkers, of Springdale, made the donation to the department to establish the endowed chair. Dr. Nelson is chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine. ”Pat and Willard Walker have made it possible for us to continue improving the lives of individuals who suffer from debilitating injuries or orthopaedic conditions. Their gift will support medical education, residency training, research, and clinical care in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery,” Dr. Nelson said. University of Arkansas System President B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D.; UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D; and Dean E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., presided over the ceremony, known as an investiture, presenting Dr. Nelson with a medallion as a symbol of his new title. The university’s leaders also praised Mr. and Mrs. Walker for their longstanding generosity to UAMS. ”I want to express our profound appreciation to Mr. and Mrs. Walker for their extraordinary generosity,” Dean Reece said. Academic health centers such as UAMS depend on “individuals of vision and ability and passion and generosity” to sustain excellent education, research, patient care, and service to the community, he said. The Walkers’ gift will support the internationally-prestigious research and training in orthopaedic surgery at UAMS in perpetuity, Chancellor Wilson told Mrs. Walker. ”We’re committed to making the state of Arkansas a better place.” Dr. Nelson is one of the country’s premier specialists in hip and knee joint replacement. Using the Walkers’ earlier gifts to the department, he has recruited other faculty members, including Larry J. Suva, Ph.D., to lead new research and development on highly sophisticated methods of surgery. Mrs. Walker attended the ceremony in the Betsy Blass Board Room of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center on the UAMS campus. The other guests included her son, Johnny Mike Walker, and his wife and children, Debbie Walker, Austin, and Clancy of Fayetteville; Dr. Nelson’s wife, Mindy Morrell; the Hon. Dale Bumpers; the Chancellor’s wife, Ginger Wilson; Betsy Blass and Lee Ronnell of the UAMS Foundation Fund Board; and Mary Ann East of the advisory board of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. ### Contact: Mike H. Mottler, Office of Communications Phone: 501-686-6270 Fax: 501-686-5067 E-mail: MottlerMikeH@uams.edu

08/14/02