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 vaccine into private-sector mass production. The vaccine is scheduled to go public this month.

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

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

Cleland tracks medical errors, improves patient safety

Risk management is often compared to Swiss cheese.

Patient-safety policies serve as a series of roadblocks in the Swiss cheese so that if a misstep gets through one hole, hopefully another block will stop it.

“When you find an error, the holes in the Swiss cheese lined up just so that it impacted the patient,” said Dr. William Cleland, medical director of risk management for University Hospitals and Health System. “A lot of our errors are system-driven, and our job is to find out what happened that allowed us to make this error.”

Cleland, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, became medical

School of Medicine residents Dr. Will Watkins, left, Dr. Sarah Sterling, second from right, and Dr. Erica Maxwell, right, and  Dr. Jerry Clark, second from left, associate dean of the School of Medicine, present a bronze bust to Dr. Wallace Conerly, UMMC vice chancellor emeritis, in recognition of his contributions to students as dean of the School of Medicine from 1994-2003. The presentation was part of the School of Medicine Alumni Reunion weekend Aug. 28-29 at the Norman C. Nelson Student Union.

At left, first-year medical student Sruthi Veerisetty, left, takes the Myers Briggs test during School of Medicine orientation Aug. 1; at right, School of Dentistry students familiarize themselves with their new academic surroundings during a tour of the dentistry building Aug. 1.

Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice dean of the School of Medicine, and Dr. James E. Keeton, UMMC interim vice chancellor, lead a discussion of the process to select a new vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the medical school.  Four listening sessions took place last week for the Medical Center community. The search, which began in July, is expected to take at least six months.

Grover and Elmo from the Sesame Street Live show visit patients at the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children Aug. 28: at top, Tobyn Harris of Madison, in MedWagon, with his brother, Luke Gina; at center, Grace Suthoff of Jackson; and at bottom, Johnathan “John-John” Paige of Laurel.  

(Photos by Jen Hospodor)

Longtime “L and D” nurse manager to retire after 40 years at UMMC

Ivory Davis loves a lot of things. Chief among them are seeing a baby born and solving a puzzle.

Davis, who will retire Oct. 30 as clinical director of women’s health services, started her 40-year career at UMMC in pediatrics, but it was labor and delivery that captured her heart and her intellect. She was on staff there for 26 years, 23 as nurse manager.

“People still come up to me to remind me I delivered their baby – who may now be 21 years old.”

Birth was always a miracle to Davis. After decades of delivering hundreds of

Paramedic studies health sciences while working in the Middle East

When James Moore, a health sciences student in the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s School of Health Related Professions, ordered his textbooks earlier this month, he feared he might not be able to get them before the fall semester began. The reason: Election Day in Afghanistan.

Living in off-base housing in the capital of Kabul, Moore asked his advisor in mid-August if his professors could e-mail him some assignments ahead of time so that he could try to keep up.

“We are locked down until at least the 22(nd) of August depending on insurgent attacks and political unrest,” he wrote to Dr. Javis Knott earlier this

Dr. Blair E. Batson, front, first chair of pediatrics at UMMC, enjoys an Enchanted Evening Under the Stars Gala with, from left, Jackie Petrus, Friends of Children’s Hospital president and event co-chair, Ted Duckworth, host, Cherry Duckworth, host, Leigh Reeves, event co-chair, and Dr. Owen B. Evans, chair of pediatrics.The fund-raising event for Friends of Children’s Hospital raised more than$90,000 for the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children.

University of Mississippi Medical Center leaders, administrators, faculty and emergency department staff are developing an emergency management plan in the event of a sudden and prolonged outbreak of the H1N1 virus.

In April, the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency shortly after the initial cases of the “swine flu” were reported in Mexico. Although the majority of the cases worldwide have been mild, the spring pandemic demonstrated the need for H1N1 readiness, according to Dr. Rathel “Skip” Nolan, acting chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases.

“The institution must be prepared to maintain its essential services while

A market adjustment of up to 3 percent for all employees at the Medical Center who are below their respective midpoint salary range is scheduled for October, according to a memo to UMMC deans, directors and department heads from Dr. James Keeton, interim vice chancellor for health affairs.

The market adjustment is “in keeping with our commitment to maintaining competitive salaries within our markets and being an employer of choice,” according to the memo.

More than 5,000 of the Medical Center’s approximately 8,000-member work force will receive a pay increase under the plan. Keeton said the adjustment is specifically directed at those whose salaries are low with

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

School of Nursing's new D.N.P. program spotlights evidence-based care

Advanced-practice nurses now have the option to continue their education beyond the master’s-degree level while keeping the focus on patient care. An alternative to the research-intensive Ph.D. emphasizes a higher level of expertise.

In August, the first crop of students began coursework in the School of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) program, a degree program that’s not only new to the University of Mississippi Medical Center but also a new concept nationally.

“This has been talked about in nursing for five, six, seven years,” said Dr.

To advance their careers, non-traditional students turn to health care

Their backgrounds may differ, but they share a common desire: to help other people through the health-care profession. But unlike most students entering the University of Mississippi Medical Center this fall, these “non-traditional” students already had established careers in other fields.

All earned degrees in various professions ranging from computer and electrical engineering to taxation law, so it was no easy task for some to work full-time and obtain the prerequisites needed to enter health education.

They plan to rely on life experiences and renewed purpose to guide them as they continue their education at the Medical Center.

 keeps UMMC among safest in Southeast

They are among the most common – and most feared – offenses on university campuses today. Burglary. Robbery. Auto theft. Felony assault. Forcible sexual offenses.

And the University of Mississippi Medical Center, like academic health science centers nationwide, is not immune to these ills of society labeled “Part One Crimes” by the FBI.

But new data provided by the Campus Police Department indicate UMMC boasts one of the safest campus environments in the Southeast.

“It’s next to impossible to actually prevent somebody from doing something they

With the July 30 reopening of the School of Dentistry’s metallurgy lab at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, researchers in biomedical materials science “now have a materials lab that’s back to state-of-the-art,” said Dr. Lyle “Zach” Zardiackas, professor emeritus and former chair of the department.

A fire destroyed much of the fifth-floor lab in October 2007, and with contracts on the line, faculty members pulled together and managed the workload by using space throughout the building, including vacant faculty offices, corners of clinics and other researchers’ labs.

“It was a disastrous mess,” Zardiackas recalled following a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new lab, which is housed in the original location. Zardiackas,

That Deani Haggerty spent her summer with rats doesn’t bother her. In fact, she hopes to do the same again next year.

Haggerty, a biology major entering her junior year at Mississippi State University, researched gestational diabetes. Though it’s a common disease in pregnant women, she observed it in rats because of their shorter gestation and, well, it’s a summer program.

Haggerty was among nearly 40 undergraduate students in one of two internship programs at UMMC’s School of Graduate Studies: Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) and Research Experience Opportunity (REO).

Haggerty, a Biloxi native, worked in Dr. Christine Marci’s lab.

Success in faculty recruitment supports UMMC’s mission of service

To supply faculty for growth in the medical school, University Hospital and community clinics, University of Mississippi Health Care hung the equivalent of a help wanted sign in the window.

Physicians responded. More than 80 have joined the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s faculty since July 2008; nearly half of them work in the Departments of Radiology and Medicine. Dr. James Glisson, assistant professor of medicine, was among the new hires.

A graduate of the UMMC School of Medicine, Glisson returned to the Medical Center this year from private practice in the state. He said the Department of Medicine provided the best opportunity to pursue all his interests.

UMMC volunteers help Habitat for Humanity turn vacant lots intoneighborhoods

Mary McDaniels wanted to own a home, but at 23, figured she wouldn’t have a shot for years to come.

But on a hot afternoon in early July, she couldn’t stop smiling as she received guests and toured them through her three-bedroom house.

For that early realized dream, she thanks Habitat for Humanity/Metro Jackson and dozens of volunteers from the University of Mississippi Medical Center student body, administration, University Physicians and BancorpSouth.

“I just thought home ownership would be a lot longer off,” she said during a ceremony to dedicate the Georgetown neighborhood house.

Keeton brings sense of pride, giving to VC’s office

On Dr. James Keeton’s second day in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, his wife, Jona, stopped by for a visit.

“Did he tell you this was his 10th office?” she asked another visitor. Her husband laughed before adding, “This is my 10th office in 11 years.”

Having reached the pinnacle of leadership at the University of Mississippi Medical Center as interim vice chancellor, Keeton expects this to be his last campus shuffle. He moved into Dr. Dan Jones’ former digs after having served as chief of staff for six years. Jones began serving as chancellor of the University of Mississippi on July 1.

A professor of surgery and pediatrics at UMMC, Keeton began his relationship with the Medical Center after graduating from Ole Miss in 1961.

With Dr. Dan Jones now in Oxford, faculty, staff and students sound off on what they would like in UMMC’s next leader

Elizabeth Hocker, executive director of the Mississippi Children’s Justice Center, said she remembers discussing the development of a child abuse program with Dr. Dan Jones, University of Mississippi chancellor, five years ago.

“At the time, I worked for another state agency,” Hocker said. “He listened to the proposal and supported the idea. Now, the Children’s Justice Center is a part of the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children.”

She said the new vice chancellor for health affairs should make himself or herself available to staff and faculty.

Shared governance empowers UMHC nurses to set heir own standard

University of Mississippi Health Care nurses are making their voices heard at the ballot box.

As the Shared Governance Model began its second year, staff nurses at the Medical Center – as well as personnel who work closely with nurses – went to the polls June 16-17 to vote for nursing representatives who will serve on policy-making councils and subcouncils.

The election is part of a comprehensive effort to change the culture of nursing at UMMC.

Miele launches decade-long plan to build NCI-designated cancer program

Around the corner from his seventh-floor office atop the new Arthur C. Guyton Research Center, Dr. Lucio Miele has a view halfway to Meridian.

A month into his new job as director of the Medical Center’s Cancer Institute, Miele’s plans span just as far.

“The long-term goal is to get (National Cancer Institute) designation. That’s a 10-year goal,” he said.

Miele plans to link basic science research, clinical trials, drug development and outpatient treatment all into one location.

“You need those elements to be taken seriously for funding by the NCI and to show

University Physicians broke ground June 30 on a multispecialty clinic in Flowood. The new 50,575-square-foot medical office building is slated for completion during the second quarter of 2010 and will house primary care and specialty services. Participating in the groundbreaking are, from left, John Herrington, Steve Roth, Walter Weems, Keith Gran, David Putt, Dr. Dan Jones, Dr. Scott Stringer, Janelle Gallagher, Gary Tree, Dr. Ruth Black, Dodie McElmurray, Tammy Phillips and Tom Skinner. UP is partnering with Cogdell Spencer ERDMAN on the construction.