Those renovated buildings now house programs for the College of Health Professions. A regional campus in Northwest Arkansas opened in the 2009-2010 academic year in the former Washington Regional Medical Center hospital. The UAMS Northwest campus further expands UAMS student enrollment in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and allied health and accommodates additional medical residents. In 2021, UAMS broke ground on two new buildings on the main campus in Little Rock: a new radiation oncology and proton center and a new surgical hospital. Notable people Alumni Warren L. Carpenter, highly decorated Air Force physician involved in early designs of the space suit and the F16 cockpit. William J. Darby, founder of the first nutrition research center at an American medical school at Vanderbilt University, member of the National Academy of Sciences, and widely regarded nutrition scientist. Joycelyn Elders, 15th Surgeon General of the United States and first black Surgeon General. Edith Irby Jones, first black graduate from a medical school in the American South Samuel L. Kountz, pioneer of kidney transplant surgery and co-developer of one of the first kidney perfusion machines. Harry M. Meyer, co-developer of Rubella vaccine. Volney W. Steele, pathologist and historian of medicine. Established the first pathology laboratory in the state of Montana, and wrote the popular book Bleed, Blister, and Purge: A History of Medicine on the American Frontier. Was also Asst. Prof. of Pathology at UAMS, 1956-1959. Current and former faculty Paul L. Day, discovered "vitamin M," demonstrated that it was folic acid, and characterized the effects of folic acid deficiency in non-human primates. Later became the first scientific director of the United States Food and Drug Administration. Cam Patterson, chancellor of UAMS, accomplished scientist in cardiac pathophysiology, former COO of New York Presbyterian / Weill-Cornell Hospital, biotech executive, and author. Phillip L. Rayford, first black department chair at UAMS, and renowned researcher in gastrointestinal physiology. Jerome K. Sherman, expert in cryobiology and pioneer of sperm banking and artificial insemination. Reported the first successful pregnancies using cryopreserved sperm. Volney W. Steele, pathologist and historian of medicine. Established the first pathology laboratory in the state of Montana, and wrote the popular book Bleed, Blister, and Purge: A History of Medicine on the American Frontier. Also a graduate of UAMS. Gazi Yasargil, Turkish medical scientist and neurosurgeon. In 1999 he was honored as "Neurosurgery’s Man of the Century 1950–1999" at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting. He