UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation
Stroke Program
4301 W. Markham St., Slot 513
Little Rock, AR 72205
(501) 686-8514
Stroke Program Team Directory
Medical Director
Sanjeeva Onteddu, MD
Dr. Sanjeeva Onteddu is an Assistant Professor of Neurology, Medical Director for the IDHI Stroke Program and Medical Director of the Stroke Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. After completion of a 4-year neurology residency at UAMS, he completed a 1-year vascular neurology fellowship at the University of Massachusetts. He is board certified in neurology and vascular neurology, and maintains active memberships with the American Heart Association and American Academy of Neurology.
Director of Operations
Renee Joiner is the Director of Operations for the IDHI Stroke Program, along with the Trauma and TeleSANE Programs. She has a long history of public health leadership including trauma system development, public health preparedness, HIV prevention and treatment, tobacco prevention and the Healthy AR initiative.
Assistant Director
Marzella Backus, MNSc, RN, CEN
501-554-3403
Marzella is a 2018 graduate of the UAMS Nursing Master’s Program in Administration, with a specialty in Education. She has been at UAMS since 2006 where she has worked in various nursing roles ranging from medical / surgical nursing, emergency department nurse, and in Interventional Radiology. She has been with the Stroke program since January 2017.
Program Manager
Conelia Williamson
Neurologists
- Sanjeeva Onteddu, MD
- Margaret Tremwel, MD, PhD
- Krishna Nalleballe, MD
- Jay Hinkle, MD
- Kelly Ann Patrice, M.B.,B.S.
- Vishank Shah, M.B.,B.S.
- Mhd Ezzat Zaghouleh, MD
Nurses
- Suzanne White, RN, Outreach
SMWhite@uams.edu 501-398-3833
Suzanne White is a 2020 graduate of UAMS with her Bachelors of Nursing. She joined the Stroke team in 2016 after working for 8 years in the Maternal/Infant Division of UAMS and the Center for Distance Health Call Center. She is currently a Outreach nurse for a number of hospitals in Central and Northeast Arkansas.
- Tim Vandiver, BS, NRP, RN, Outreach
tvandiver@uams.edu 501-554-1511
Tim Vandiver has been with the Stroke program since October of 2015. Before joining the Stroke team, Tim worked as a Paramedic and ER nurse for over 33 years. Currently Tim is the Outreach Nurse for 9 hospitals and is responsible for the IDHI Stroke Program education for EMS services in Arkansas.
- Robin Banks, RN, Outreach
rdbanks@uams.edu 501-352-4115
Robin Banks joined the UAMS IDHI Stroke Program in June 2018 as an Outreach Nurse Educator for 11 hospitals in Central and North Central Arkansas. She has worked over 15 years in various hospital settings, which includes 4 years in Neuro-Interventional Radiology at the UAMS Comprehensive Stroke Center.
- Jennifer McCurry, RN, Outreach
JMccurry@uams.edu 501-425-2821
- Trish Maynes, BS, RN, Outreach
PAMaynes@uams.edu 501-954-0392
Trish Maynes is a graduate of JBU with a degree in Organizational Management and a previously earned degree from Lourdes Hospital in nursing. She worked as a pediatric nurse, and a pharmaceutical representative before working as an ER nurse for the past fifteen years. Currently she works as a Clinical Nurse Educator for IDHI-Stroke in rural Southwest AR.
- Julia Weatherford, RN, BSN
JAWeatherford@uams.edu 501-413-0151
Julia Weatherford is a 2013 graduate of UAMS earning a Bachelor Degree in Nursing Science. She comes to our team with 7 years of experience as an RN in the UAMS Emergency Department which is a Nationally Certified Comprehensive Stroke Center. She currently serves as a Clinical Nurse Educator for our program and serves a number of hospitals in the Central Arkansas area.
Health Educators
- Olivia Wilson, MS, CHES – Program Manager/Health Educator
OWilson2@uams.edu 501-615-4697
Born and raised in Malvern, AR, Olivia graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Education and Promotion and Master of Science Degree in Health Sciences from the University of Central Arkansas in Fall 2012. Olivia went on to become a Certified Health Education Specialist and member of the National and Arkansas Chapters of SOPHE and APHA. Olivia joined the Stroke Program in June 2015.
- Erin Wells, BS, CHES-Program Manager of Analytics/ Health Educator
EEWells@uams.edu 501-410-4278
Born and raised in Searcy, AR, Erin graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 2017 with a Bachelors of Science in Health Education and Promotion and a minor in Nutrition. She then became a Certified Health Education Specialist and a member of the National and Arkansas Chapters of SOPHE and APHA. Erin joined the IDHI Stroke Program in August of 2017.
Technical Support
- Phillip Martin, Video Support
Quality Data
- Calvin Duncan, BS, EMT
Calvin received his EMT and Paramedic license at ASU, Searcy. He later went on to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in EMS from UAMS. He has been in EMS for 15 years. Five of those years were at UAMS with the Stroke Program.
Call Center
- Chastity Baldwin, Call Center Supervisor – CBaldwin@uams.edu
Chastity graduated from UAMS nursing school in 2005 with BSN. She worked in the maternal infant division for 8 years. She started with the IDHI Call Center in 2014 and went on to become the Stroke Call Center Supervisor in 2019.
- Samantha Hanard: NREMT
Samantha graduated from Pulaski Tech in 1992 as a Paralegal. She attended EMT school with MEMS worked for EMS for 4 years. She joined the Stroke Program in 2017.
- Lizelle Griffith: NREMT
Lizelle attended EMT school at MEMS Ambulance Service where, upon graduation, she worked for the next 10 years. She is the most recent addition to UAMS and the Stroke Program.
“I’m looking forward to many more years working at AR SAVES.” (Lizelle Griffith)
- William Tremaine Jr., NREMT
- Christopher Hogan, NRP
-
Thomas Bishara, NREMT
