LITTLE ROCK – Jonathan A. Laryea, M.D., who specializes in colon and rectal surgery, has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Department of Surgery.

Laryea, an assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine, completed a fellowship at the Georgia Colon & Rectal Surgery Clinic in Atlanta. He was chief resident, senior resident and general surgery intern at Yale University affiliate Waterbury Hospital Health Center in Connecticut. Laryea received his medical degree from the University of Ghana Medical School and was an internal medicine intern at Yale University affiliate Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, Conn.

Laryea is board certified in general surgery and is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Society of Laparoscopic Surgeons.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,562 students and 733 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with about 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $5 billion a year. Visit www.uams.edu.