Dr. Sherry Turner, DO, MPH, FACOEP, Chair

Term Expires: February 13, 2027
Address: 101 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 300, Little Rock, AR 72201
Biography: Dr. Sherry Turner was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board in 2024 and is serving a term that will expire in 2027.
Turner is the Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education and Designated Institutional Official (DIO) and Professor of Emergency Medicine for Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine. Before joining ARCOM, Dr. Turner served as the DIO and developed graduate medical education programs throughout the Southeast United States for the past 10 years. She is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Turner received her osteopathic medical degree from Nova Southeastern University College Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She completed her Emergency Medicine Residency and Rotating Internship at Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston, West Virginia. While in residency, she attended the Training in Health Policy Program through the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. She continued her education with a Master of Public Health with a focus on Healthcare Administration at the University of Southern Mississippi. She received her Fellow status from the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians.
Prior to medical school, Turner had initially trained in a diploma nursing school at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee and eventually received her Bachelor and Master of Nursing from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner prior to attending NSUCOM. Turner currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Rural Health Association of Arkansas, the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board, and as a member of the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership. She is on the editorial board for the Association Hospitals Medical Educators. Formerly, she served on, the Sebastian County Opioid Taskforce as well as many committees nationally and is active in the Emergency Medicine and Graduate Medical Education with the ACOEP, ACEP, CORD-EM, AOGME and the AOA. She previously served as the President of The Foundation for Osteopathic Emergency Medicine and remains active with the research committee of the ACOEP. She is married to Dr. James (Jim) Turner, who is an emergency medicine physician. They have one daughter and two beautiful grandchildren, Walter and Peter.
Areas of Expertise/Interest:

• Emergency Medicine
• Disaster Medicine
• Public Health
• Health Policy
• Graduate Medical Education

Dr. Phillip Gilmore, PhD, Vice-Chair

Term Expires: February 13, 2027

Address: 101 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 300, Little Rock, AR 72201

Biography: Dr. Phillip Gilmore was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board in 2024 and is serving a term that will expire in 2027.

Gilmore resides in Crossett and has called Arkansas home for almost 44 years. Gilmore graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a Master of Science degree in microbiology. He went on to graduate from Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, Missouri, with a Master of Health Administration degree and an administrative residency in San Francisco also receiving the Program’s 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award. Gilmore also holds two PhD degrees from Louisiana Baptist University. Gilmore served as the Assistant Chief of Clinical Microbiology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. during the Vietnam War. After the war, Gilmore continued to serve in the United States Army Reserve where he held the rank of Captain.

Gilmore has been a hospital administrator at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi, Warner Brown Medical Center in El Dorado, Arkansas, and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, serving there for 17 years. Gilmore also served as CEO at Hot Spring County Medical Center in Malvern, Arkansas, and currently serves as CEO of Ashley County Medical Center in Crossett, Arkansas for almost 16 years. Gilmore is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Gilmore served on the Board of the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace, currently serves on the Arkansas State Board of Health as past Board President, the Arkansas Hospital Association Worker’s Compensation Self-Insured Trust Program, the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership, the Arkansas Hospital Association Board of Directors, previously the Governor’s COVID-19 Taskforce, and currently the Board of Care Source Arkansas, the Arkansas Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, and the Osteopathic Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Board. Gilmore takes an active role in the Crossett community by serving on the board of the Crossett Economic Development Foundation, Crossett Public Library, the American Legion and is a member of the Crossett Rotary Club. Gilmore is Chairman of the Bylaws and Constitution Committee of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. He is an active member of the First Baptist Church of Crossett where he teaches Sunday school and serves as Chairman of the Deacons. To date, Gilmore has served as a hospital administrator for over 47 years. Gilmore and his late wife Frances have five children and nine grandchildren.

Dr. Evan Branscum, MD

Term Expires: February 13, 2027

Address: 101 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 300, Little Rock, AR 72201

Biography: Dr. Evan Branscum was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board in 2024 and is serving a term that will expire in 2027.

Branscum practices primary care in Harrison, AR, with CoxHealth and is board-certified in Family Medicine. He is from a small farm in Marshall, AR. Branscum was honored to accept Governor Sanders's appointment to the GMERE board in hopes of helping the state of Arkansas train and retain more medical doctors.

Andy Davis

Term Expires: February 13, 2027

Address: 101 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 300, Little Rock, AR 72201

Biography: Andy Davis was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board in 2024 and is serving a term that will expire in 2027. 

Dr. Amanda Deel, DO

Term Expires: February 13, 2027

Address: 101 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 300, Little Rock, AR 72201

Biography: Dr. Amanda Deel was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board in 2024 and is serving a term that will expire in 2027. 

Deel believes that physicians can make the biggest impact through servant leadership, and that’s evident in the way she cares for her patients as a family physician and trains the next generation of physicians through her role as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Graduate Medical Education at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University (NYITCOM at A-State).

A native of New Edinburg, a small Delta town in southeast Arkansas, Deel knows firsthand how desperate many parts of Arkansas and the greater Mississippi Delta Region are when it comes to access to quality healthcare. In 2015, she jumped at the opportunity to help launch the state's first osteopathic medical school, one that was established with the mission of producing physicians to address the severe shortage in Arkansas, particularly the rural areas like the one where she grew up.

Deel earned her undergraduate degree in biology from Arkansas State University and her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. She completed a graduate transitional internship at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Va. and served as a medical officer in the U.S. Navy for five years following medical school. Deel achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

After completing her formal service to her country, Deel conducted her family medicine residency at UAMS Northeast in Jonesboro. Upon completion of her residency, she worked as an assistant professor and assistant program director for the UAMS Northeast Family Medicine Residency. In 2014, Deel was recognized by UAMS as the Red Sash Award Recipient for excellence in teaching and was UAMS's Teacher of the Year for Regional Programs the same year.

In addition to her role leading NYITCOM at A-State's academic affairs and GME offices, Deel practices family medicine and obstetrics at NYITCOM’s on-campus medical clinic and St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro.

Deel currently serves on the Arkansas Maternal Morbidity Mortality Review Committee and in 2025, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders appointed her to the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board. Both groups are vital, considering Arkansas had the fourth highest maternal mortality rate among all states in a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study, and Arkansas ranks 46th in physicians per capita.

Deel earned a fellowship from the American Academy of Family Physicians in 2018 and serves on the board of the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians. She is a certified Yoga instructor and regularly enjoys teaching classes. Deel and her husband, Dr. Mickey Deel, live in Jonesboro with their two children.

Dr. Sharmila Makhija, MD, MBA

Term Expires: February 13, 2027

Address: 101 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 300, Little Rock, AR 72201

Biography: Dr. Sharmila Makhija was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board in 2024 and is serving a term that will expire in 2027.

Sharmila Makhija, MD, MBA is the Founding Dean and Chief Executive Officer of Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. Dr. Makhija works with health systems and institutional partners to enhance medical education and prepare students for their future health care roles in the community and country. An international expert on gynecologic cancer, Sharmila Makhija MD, MBA most recently served as the Department Chair of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, professor of gynecologic oncology and the Chella and Moise Safra Endowed Chair at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System in New York. She has held faculty positions at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Emory University, and the University of Louisville. Dr. Makhija has received numerous awards for her dedication to women’s health, including the Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Spirit of Achievement. She has also been named a Good Housekeeping Humanitarian Hero, a Crain’s NY Business Notable Health Care Leader, and an AAPI Health care Hero Honoree.

Our state needs more physicians to provide care in medically underserved rural communities. As a member of the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board, we are working together to increase residency opportunities within the state, in order to retain more physicians. It is a privilege to serve alongside this dedicated team.

Dr. Kevan Meadors, MD

Term Expires: February 13, 2027

Address: 101 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 300, Little Rock, AR 72201

Biography: Dr. Kevan Meadors was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board in 2024 and is serving a term that will expire in 2027.

Dr. Kevan Beth Meadors is an Emergency Medicine Physician at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as well as a Medical Toxicologist. She trains emergency medicine residents every year that serve in both rural and urban settings across our nation.

Dr. Meadors received her medical degree from UAMS. She completed her residency in emergency medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where she went on to complete a fellowship in medical toxicology. Dr. Meadors served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UT Southwestern from 2017 until her recruitment to UAMS.

As a born and raised Arkansan, she is passionate about improving access to quality healthcare here in Arkansas.

Dr. Gregory Smart

Term Expires: February 13, 2027

Address: 101 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 300, Little Rock, AR 72201

Biography: Dr. Gregory S. Smart was appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Graduate Medical Education Residency Expansion Board in 2024 and is serving a term that will expire in 2027.