The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine in Little Rock recently invested Nicola “Nikki” Edge, professor and vice chair of research in the UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, in the newly established Cathy Cole Seilhan and Denton Seilhan Endowed Chair for Child and Family Resilience.
Edge, who was invested during a ceremony April 17, is the inaugural holder of the chair.
“Supportive relationships will allow our research community to weather any adversity that may lie ahead and emerge resilient, not just surviving but thriving,” she said. “Our sincere thanks to each person in this room who helps form this critical web of supportive relationships. I am grateful to you all for being here today and for helping us celebrate the gift from Cathy Cole Seilhan and Denton Seilhan that created this chair and all that it means for children and families in Arkansas.”
She added that supportive relationships with people such as health care providers, educators and advocates are critical not only to the development of resilience in individual children but also to developing resilient organizations and communities.
Edge, who also serves as director of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine’s research and evaluation division, joined UAMS in 1996 as a research assistant in the Department of Psychiatry.
“Nikki, I want to thank you for everything that you’ve done for UAMS, for the people you care for, as well as for the state of Arkansas. This is an enormous honor, but it’s an honor that you deserve so very well,” said Dr. Cam Patterson, chancellor at UAMS and CEO at UAMS Health. “I’d like to thank Cathy and Denton Seilhan, who have a particular commitment to issues related to childhood well-being, and this chair will further your concern and your support in this area. Your family has consistently dedicated itself to doing good, and we are so fortunate to have you as part of our family.”
An endowed chair is one of the highest academic honors a university can bestow on a faculty member. A chair is established with gifts of at least $1 million. The gifts are invested, and the interest proceeds are used to support the educational, research and clinical activities of the chair holder. Those named to a chair are among the most highly regarded scientists, physicians and professors in their fields.
“Endowed chairs are a prestigious honor, and as such, they help us recruit and retain world-class educators, scientists and clinicians like Nikki Edge, and just as importantly, they support the vital work and vision of the faculty who hold them,” said Dr. Steven Webber, dean of the college of medicine and executive vice chancellor at UAMS. “It’s a great pleasure to honor the outstanding colleague who will be the inaugural holder of this endowed chair, so again, congratulations to Nikki.”
Edge was pursuing a master’s degree in education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1995 when a chance meeting changed her plans. The late UAMS faculty member Leanne Whiteside-Mansell offered Edge a job as a graduate assistant at UAMS and later encouraged Edge to enroll at the University of Memphis in Tennessee to complete a doctorate in educational psychology and research, which Edge earned in 2000. She joined the UAMS faculty soon after. Whiteside-Mansell then served as her primary mentor for 25 years.
After Edge moved to the department of family and preventative medicine, the department established the research and evaluation division, which has since grown into a thriving division that now includes seven faculty and more than 50 staff.
The primary focus of Edge’s work is understanding the factors that place children at risk for suboptimal health and well-being, including child maltreatment and traumatic experiences, and translating that research into community-based interventions that support child resilience.
She has led or contributed to more than 45 extramural grant awards totaling more than $75 million from federal, state, foundation, and philanthropic sources. She has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed manuscripts and provided more than 150 presentations at national and international meetings. She has also served on the editorial board of Infant Mental Health Journal, the leading journal for relational health of young children.
One of her most important career achievements has been the development and direction of Project PLAY, which stands for Positive Learning for Arkansas’ Youngest, the state’s infant and early childhood mental health consultation program. The program provides intervention for children at risk for expulsion from early care and education programs due to early emerging social and emotional concerns.
Under her leadership, this program has been nationally recognized for research demonstrating positive outcomes and innovative work to support children in foster care. In 2021, she extended her work to the K-12 school system with the launch of the Arkansas Trauma Resource Initiative for Schools, which provides training and resources to school personnel in Arkansas to prepare them to recognize and respond to the impact of trauma on students.
“Nikki has established herself as a leading researcher in understanding and addressing factors that place children at risk for poor social and emotional outcomes,” said Deborah Perry, research professor at the Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “The world is truly a better place because of Nikki and her research, and with this generous gift, her work will continue to flourish.”
Edge expressed gratitude to the Seilhans for making the chair possible.
“Like my mom, Cathy spent many years as an educator, serving as a resiliency factor in the lives of many children, and now, in her retirement, she continues to support children and families in new ways,” Edge said. “Denton similarly uses his time and energy to support some of our most vulnerable children as a court-appointed special advocate for children in foster care. They both work to build resilient communities by supporting groups and institutions like their public libraries, their local community mental health center, and, now, this generous gift to UAMS.”
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