Department leaders' record has APS presidency in the cards

As president-elect of the 10,500-member American Physiological Society, Dr. Joey Granger occupies a place in the rarified stratosphere of American science.

But it’s as familiar as family to Granger.

When he assumes the presidency next April, he will be the eighth president with a formal relationship to the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the second member of his immediate family to hold the office.

Only Harvard Medical School, 228 years old, has had more alums as APS president than the Mississippi medical school, 55 years old.

New VC not the retiring type

The Medical Center today doesn’t resemble the sleepy place Dr. Jimmy Keeton first saw as a medical student in 1961.

Now he’s the helmsman of the same but very different Medical Center, one with a $1.2 billion budget that makes up 10 percent of the economy of Jackson and two percent of the state’s economy.

He was appointed vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the school of medicine on Feb. 9, just one week before he turns 70, after a six-month search.

It was not a job he sought, but it’s one that fits him like an old shoe.

ACT Center helps tobacco users say no to nicotine – for good

A tobacco-treatment center that originated with a dentist and a psychologist encouraging smokers to kick the habit has just passed its 10-year milestone while at the same time expanding its services to more locations than ever before.

Located in the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s ACT Center opened in 1999 with a mission to help Mississippians quit using tobacco — and to stay tobacco-free —through education, training and research.

Dr. Karen Crews, director of the center, spearheaded the project while she was on faculty in the School of Dentistry. As a young practitioner working at a

Electronic monitoring debuts 

At 2 a.m., an intensive care unit nurse notices a change in a patient’s condition that could warrant intervention, but she wants another opinion.

A dedicated phone line and an in-room emergency notification button connect her to off-campus critical care physicians and nurses who have been monitoring the patient around the clock. Together they determine the next course of action, whether it’s administering medication or contacting the primary physician.

Beginning Dec. 15, that hypothetical scenario will be reality with the launch of University of Mississippi Health Care’s Intensiview, a Philips VISICU eICU program. The system combines advanced software, two-way audio and video

Majority-female enrollment mirrors national trend in dental education

The 30-year-old School of Dentistry has reached a new milestone. With women dentists becoming more the norm in a profession long dominated by men, the dental school for the first time enrolled a higher number of new female students than male students.

Entering the school this fall, the class of 2013 includes 18 female students and 17 male students.

The majority-female class follows a gradual but steady increase of

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

I know you share my belief that we are extremely fortunate to work at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.  Not only is it a joy and a privilege  to work around a highly skilled, caring group of people who are doing work that really matters, but so far, the Medical Center has been spared from layoffs and severe cutbacks or closings others have experienced over the last year.

That makes it all the more important that we consider the needs of our neighbors in the UMMC Cares campaign.  This year's campaign, which begins Monday, Nov. 2, and runs through Nov. 13, will allow you to

Grad school alum plays key role in novel H1N1 vaccine deployment

One of the nation’s top scientists and a prominent player in the development of the forthcoming H1N1 swine influenza vaccine is Mississippi native Dr. Robin Robinson, a graduate of what became the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

As director of the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority, an organization within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Robinson promotes the development of vaccines, treatments and therapies for a range of public-health emergencies.

Since June, the BARDA office has helped develop, license and move the H1N1 flu

Nurse-run clinic celebrates 10 years in midtown Jackson

When asked what he ate for dinner the night before, Jackson resident Jerome Thompson confessed that he violated his dietary guidelines and scarfed down some chicken nuggets. That earned him a lecture from his nurse practitioner on how to properly manage his diabetes.

“It’s not quantity, it’s quality,” explained Dr. Audwin Fletcher, advising Thompson to avoid fried foods and to stick with vegetables and meats that have been baked or broiled.

“It’s a lifestyle change,” he told him. “It’s going to take some time. We need to work on you losing 26 pounds. When was the last time you’ve been to the dentist?” Thompson,

Teaching through simulation comes of age at UMMC

The eyes are open, he’s wheezing and coughing, his fingernails turn blue, he gasps for breath, says he can’t breathe, his airways constrict, and he dies.

This high fidelity patient simulator – going through the cascade of symptoms of anaphylactic shock – is about as real as it gets without flesh and bones. It responds to whatever students do or don’t do in the attempt to save him.

“A real patient near death in the hospital may not be the best teaching moment,” said Dr. Anna Lerant, associate professor of anesthesiology and co-director UMMC’s Medical Advanced Skill and Simulation Education Center.

Simulation is the next big advance in health-care education, but it’s expensive.

New building promises to bolster pharmacy research, clinical practice

In many ways, the School of Pharmacy has felt detached from the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Its degree program is split between Oxford and Jackson, and most local classes are at the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center. Faculty, paid through the University of Mississippi in Oxford, didn’t even receive employee numbers here until three years ago.

But the growing school hopes to ease its separation anxiety with the construction of its own building on campus.

Construction of the School of Pharmacy building is scheduled to begin in the

Medical school expands 1st year class

Clad for the first time in waist-length white coats emblematic of medical school, 123 first-year students squeezed onto a student union stairwell for a portrait that’s become a UMMC tradition.

But this year’s class wouldn’t all fit. Vying for the group’s attention, administrators waved their arms and shouted instructions to squeeze each successive row until everyone got into the frame.

For years the University of Mississippi School of Medicine administrators kept class sizes to 100. The increase, of course, is by design.

Mississippi’s rates of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and hypertension remain at or near the nation’s highest. Additionally, the state’s doctor-per-capita ratio of

When seconds matterUMMC is the place to be

When the media report news of an accident involving traumatic injuries, one of the following phrases is sure to follow: “transported to UMC,” “airlifted to UMC,” or “listed in serious condition at UMC.”

Emergency responders and community hospitals know the state’s only level one trauma center is at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, so when a life hangs in the balance, the patient comes here. Time is critical.

“Ten to 15 minutes are the difference between life and death,” said Dr. John Porter, chief of the Division of Trauma and Critical Care Surgery.