Little Rock, AR (ContentDesk) July 17, 2006 -- The Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy (MIRT - http://myeloma.uams.edu ) recently added four new staff members to its ranks, including two clinical physicians.Dr. Monica Grazziutti, M.D., was granted a faculty appointment as an assistant professor on July 10. A former research associate with the Myeloma Institute ( http://myeloma.uams.edu ), Grazziutti is assigned to the inpatient unit. Educated in Argentina, Grazziutti did her internship and residency in internal medicine in Rosario, Argentina from 1983 to 1986. She followed that with a fellowship in infectious disease and clinical microbiology in Buenos Aires and additional fellowships in epidemiology and infectious disease at the University of Miami and the University of Texas-Houston, respectively.

Dr. Yazan Alsayed, M.D., also joined the staff on July 10 as an assistant professor. He will be working in the MIRT clinic and will be involved in research as well. Alsayed completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Penn., and completed an internal medicine residency at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. He maintains professional affiliations with the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the American College of Physicians.Igor Entin, Ph.D., joined MIRT as a research instructor.

He is working in Dr. Joshua Epstein's lab, where he is participating in research studies related to osteoblasts and their mesenchymal progenitors in multiple myeloma. Entin completed a postdoctoral research fellowship with the hematopoietic malignancies program at the University of California, San Francisco. Lindsay Rae Melson, R.N.C., A.C.N.P., joined MIRT as an advanced practice nurse and is assisting Dr. Frits van Rhee in the clinic.

Melson received her acute care nurse practitioner certification from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She came to MIRT from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she worked with the stem cell transplant program on the hematology/oncology service. About the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy:The Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy ( http://myeloma.uams.edu ), located at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences ( http://www.uams.edu ), is the worlds largest facility devoted to the treatment and study of multiple myeloma.Multiple myeloma ( http://myeloma.uams.edu ) is a type of cancer that involves plasma cells -- white blood cells that produce antibodies. It is the second most common cancer of the blood.When plasma cells become cancerous, they reproduce uncontrollably and crowd out healthy red and white blood cells, preventing them from fighting infection and carrying oxygen throughout the body. Bone destruction is a common manifestation of myeloma.

The malignant cells also produce a type of protein that can cause kidney failure.Research at the MIRT has more than doubled the annual survival rate of a myeloma patient upon diagnosis from three years to seven years and beyond.About the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS): 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 $4.3 billion a year.Contact:Leslie TaylorUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences501-686-8998 http://www.uams.edu | http://myeloma.uams.edu .