After earning his B.A. at Hendrix and M.D. from UAMS, Joe Beck obtained a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. After working on the staff of McClellan Veteran’s Hospital in 1986-87, he established a private practice in Little Rock. Well respected by his peers, he is yearly listed in Arkansas Times’ Best Physicians of Arkansas list.
Approximately one-third of Beck’s practice involves HIV patients whom he treats with state-of-the-art care and compassion. As a leader in HIV care in Arkansas since the beginning of the epidemic, he serves by donating his time to talk to high school and college students concerning HIV and AIDS with fact-based, straightforward answers. Additionally, he organized an annual statewide AIDS seminar in association with the Arkansas Medical Society Annual Meeting arranging for nationally known physicians as speakers. These seminars stopped in the 1990s but Beck has continued his HIV education efforts by providing a monthly AIDS Conference at St. Vincent Infirmary open to all providers in central Arkansas.
Additionally, Beck gives back to his community by serving as a preceptor for Transitional Interns at UAMS and a member of the Arkansas Medical Board, the HIV-Infected Health Care Worker Subcommittee (Chairman since 1992), and the Medical Society House of delegates. He was recently installed as President of the Arkansas Medical Society and is a former President of the Arkansas Blood and Cancer Society. Beck has been Vice Chief of Medicine at St. Vincent Infirmary, Chief of Medicine at Doctors’ Hospital, Medical Director of the SVI Cancer Center, and served on the Physician Advisory Committee of Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Beck is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and was recognized with the 2006 Robert Shields Abernathy Award for Excellence in Internal Medicine.