“El Dorado was Justin’s native home, and he had an abiding love for this community and for south Arkansas, with plans to retire here,” said Nolan. “He believed that we all should leave the world a better place than we found it, and this gift is in fulfillment of that conviction.” The El Dorado campus represents a joint effort by UAMS and the Medical Center of South Arkansas to increase medical access throughout south Arkansas by training primary care physicians to serve Union County. UAMS expects to open the clinic in 2023, with residents arriving in 2024 or 2025.
“ Th i s s i g n i f i c a n t a n d thoughtful gift from Bob Nolan pushes us closer to making the regional campus in El Dorado a reality,” said Dr. Cam Patterson, UAMS chancellor and UAMS Health CEO. “Each regional campus becomes indelibly linked to health and wellness of its community, and soon we will have that in El Dorado and Union County.” The El Dorado campus will be UAMS’ ninth regional campus. The majority of family practice physicians in rural areas of the state are trained at one of UAMS’ eight regional campuses.
Creating a regional campus in El Dorado will provide an influx of physicians and health care professionals in Union County and south Arkansas to create a sustainable educational and training pipeline and make it easier to maintain consistent levels of care.
Justin Nolan, who died in May of 2020, rose through the ranks at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to become chairman of the Department of Anthropology. He was widely published, authoring two books and multiple scholarly articles.
Recognized as an expert in his field, he was an invited lecturer at institutions across the United States, Canada, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.
The younger Nolan knew he wanted to be a teacher at an early age. After graduating with honors from El Dorado High School in 1989, he received his bachelor of arts in anthropology from Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., in 1993. From there, he attended the University of Missouri, where he received his master’s in anthropology in 1996 and his doctorate in 2000.