IHL Board appoints Jones chancellor of Ole Miss

The day began like any other for Dr. Dan Jones and his wife, Lydia – up at 5:30 a.m. followed by quiet time and prayer together.

But June 15 was no ordinary day. At the end of it, after daylong meetings with students, faculty, staff and alumni, Jones became the 16th chancellor of the University of Mississippi.

Members of the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) announced his appointment at 4:24 p.m. on the Oxford campus.

Jones thanked the board for its confidence in him, for the support of “all of you who love Ole Miss,” especially outgoing Chancellor Robert Khayat.

During a ceremony that marked milestone achievements for residents and fellows in the Department of Family Medicine, doctors honored former colleague Dr. Mark Pogue with an award in his name.

Pogue, 35, died in a car accident Feb. 11 in Jackson along with his fiancée, Dr. Lisa Dedousis. He was a third-year resident at UMMC’s West Jackson Family Medicine Center and would have graduated along with the department’s seven other residents. Dedousis was a first-year resident at the Jersey City Medical Center.

Faculty members presented the award during the department’s Class of 2009 Residents and Fellows Certificate Ceremony June 11.

University Physicians-Grants Ferry to debut in Flowood

University Physicians, a part of University of Mississippi Health Care, is preparing to branch out by opening its first multispecialty satellite clinic in Rankin County. This new clinic will add another convenient location for patients, joining the main campus and single-specialty clinics in South and North Jackson.

A June 30 groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for University Physicians-Grants Ferry, located at the corner of Lakeland Place and Plaza Drive in Flowood. The new 50,575-square-foot, $14 million medical-office building is slated for completion the second quarter of 2010 and will house primary care and specialty services such as family medicine, internal medicine, orthopedics,

Pro figure competitor’s focus: healthy lifestyles at UMMC

On a recent workday, Zonzie McLaurin was up by 4 a.m. to go for a morning run with her 80-pound Staffordshire terrier, Maximus, before getting to her office on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus at 7 a.m.

She squeezed in another run during her lunch break, then after work she hit the gym for an hour and a half of weight training. She’s been fueling her body with six to seven meals per day.

Psychiatrist lays groundwork for understanding brain’s role

A map of part of the human brain Dr. Grazyna Rajkowska developed across three countries, three languages and years of persistence could soon help patients with treatment-resistant depression.

A study published this spring in Neuropsychopharmacology used Rajkowska’s map of the human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to precisely apply electro-magnetic bursts. The experimental treatment, called trans-cranial magnetic stimulation, proved so successful the study’s authors say it could move to clinical trials.

Comptroller to retire after four decades of service

When Charles Mullen was first offered a position as grants fiscal supervisor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, he agreed to stay for 18 months or until the institution’s accounting work had been completed.

Forty-three years later, after rising through the ranks to lead the institution’s accounting and reporting efforts, he is confident the accounting department can move forward without him.

Mullen, UMMC’s comptroller since December 1986, will step down July 1. Sam Smith, associate comptroller, will assume the office of comptroller, handling investments, the Education Building Corporation (EBC) and payroll;

The Medical Center will host a blood drive by Mississippi Blood Services Monday-Friday, June 22-26. All donors will receive a T-shirt and may register for a chance to win a portable media player. MBS suggests donors eat up to four hours before donating blood and drink plenty of fluids before and after donation.

Times and locations of the drive include: 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, June 22-23, in the donor coaches between the School of Medicine and the Arthur C. Guyton Research Center; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, June 24, in the Norman C. Nelson Student Union; 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, June 25, in the donor coach at the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children; and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, June 26, in the Community Meeting Room at the Jackson

The Medical Center will honor its retiring faculty and staff with 25 years or more of service to the institution with a ceremony and reception at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, June 26, in the Norman C. Nelson Student Union. All Medical Center faculty, staff and students are invited. For more information, send an e-mail (lhodge@pubaffairs.umsmed.edu).

The Medical Center family is invited to the Eli Manning Children’s Clinics dedication ceremony at 4 p.m. on Friday, June 26, in the University Hospital atrium lobby. A reception and tours of the Eli Manning Children’s Clinics will follow the ceremony. For more information, send an e-mail (calendar@pubaffairs.umsmed.edu).

New support for a child’s medical journey

Traditionally, treatment for children with life-threatening illnesses is targeted toward a cure through a blur of doctor visits, scans and tests.

While the quest for a cure continues, a new division in the Department of Pediatrics will take an alternate yet complementary approach to caring for these children.

Beginning in July, the Division of Pediatric Palliative Medicine will focus solely on providing the best possible quality of life for patients and their families, according to Dr. Rick Boyte, associate professor of pediatrics.

“It’s at the heart of what we’re supposed to be doing in health care,” Boyte said.

From an early age, Dr. Daniel W. Jones knew his career aspirations revolved around medicine and leadership. What he didn’t foresee was how those two paths would merge and lead to Oxford.

“When the idea came up that I might be the chancellor, the critical question was whether this was the right thing for the university, but I came to the place of leaving that decision in the hands of where it needed be, the Board (of Trustees),” he said.

On June 2, the board answered Jones’ question.

After months of speculation since Chancellor Robert Khayat’s retirement announcement in January, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of

Research to gauge effects of stress on vaccine

It’s a good thing that since 2006, women can be vaccinated against a virus known to cause cervical cancer.

Not so good, according to a local physician, is that the vaccine might not be effective in the women most at risk for developingcervical cancer.

Dr. Gailen Marshall, director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, says poor women, especially African-American women, have a higher incidence and severity of cervical cancer than women of higher socioeconomic status. The vaccine in current

UMMC’s aeromedical transport team logs milestone flight

University of Mississippi Health Care flight nurse Dan Turner has spent part of the last 10 years watching the state of Mississippi from 2,000 feet in the air.

As a member of the AirCare medical team, he has seen the fear in patients’ eyes. He’s watched family members gaze in shock as their critically ill loved ones are quickly taken from them on a helicopter.

During the transport, the health-care team of flight nurses and flight paramedics work to stabilize patients and provide rapid transport to definitive care. That’s what Turner and flight paramedic Stacy Gill did April 24 to help a middle-aged woman from Winona who had suffered a heart attack.

AirCare nurse receives Bronze Star for meritorious achievement

Flying wounded soldiers out of combat zones under hostile conditions seems a far cry from shuttling patients by helicopter to the emergency department at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. But from Bert E. “Bo” Sullivan’s perspective, there’s not much difference between the two.

An AirCare flight nurse since the program’s inception in 1996 and a lieutenant colonel in the Mississippi Air National Guard, Sullivan has been deployed to various “hot spots” around the globe – from Africa to the Middle East – at least a half-dozen times. Although he maintains he was merely “doing what I do here (at UMMC),” his most recent campaign, a six-month hitch in

WJTV News Channel 12 anchor Linda Allen, left, interviews Sara Jaronitzky of Seminary, right, and her daughter, Madison, a patient in the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, during the 2009 Children’s Miracle Network Celebration broadcast. The event in the Children’s Hospital lobby May 30-31 celebrated the $1.1 million raised for the hospital during 2008.

A new consultation and admissions policy for University Hospitals and Health System emergency departments promises to improve patient safety, quality of care and patient flow by defining guidelines for timely evaluation and disposition of ED patients.

According to Dr. Lou Ann Woodward, associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Medicine and an emergency medicine physician, the policy addresses the prolonged disposition of patients who require admission in the ED.

“The ED serves as a very real front door for many of our Medical Center patients,” Woodward said. “It is critical that we take aggressive measures to

The QEP Steering Committee will host a pair of town-hall meetings to provide details on requested proposals for preparing a Quality Enhancement Plan for the Medical Center. The meetings are scheduled for noon on Tuesday, June 9, in the Norman C. Nelson Student Union, and 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 10, in R153 (lower amphitheatre).

All Medical Center faculty, staff and students are invited to the meetings. Lunch will be provided for the first 100 participants on Tuesday and light refreshments will be offered at the Wednesday session.

“The Medical Center sees the QEP process as a golden opportunity to polish an already high-quality educational enterprise,” said Dr. Rob Rockhold,

More than 500 degrees conferred at Commencement

In his last presiding role at UMMC Commencement, University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat, who is retiring next month, told graduates of the health sciences campus, “most of what is said here today will be forgotten, but you must record in your memory your place in this happy event.”

So with speech-making at a minimum, 515 students received degrees at the Mississippi Coliseum in less than two hours.

“My memory of this Commencement will always be tinged with a degree of sadness because it marks the final ceremony in which our dear friend (Khayat) will confer degrees to our graduates,” said UMMC vice chancellor Dr. Dan Jones.

When he chose pediatrics for his residency, Dr. Josh Iles knew years of child care awaited him. But the birth of Ian, Isaac and Isabella made his profession all the more personal.

Starting in March, when Iles matched into the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, everything went rapid fire. Within days, he and his wife, Elizabeth, bought their first home and moved to Clinton.

The triplets arrived April 28 as he finished requirements for his M.D. The boys came home the week of Commencement and Isabella should follow just as Iles starts his residency.

M.D.-Ph.D. student Jeanann Suggs receives the Mahaffey Award from her mentor, Dr. Julius Cruse, Guyton Distinguished Professor and professor of pathology, May 7.

Senior SHRP students, from left, Kelley Jones, Jessie Rhodes Allen and Kelly McDonald, sign off on their awards May 9.

Dr. Butch Gilbert, interim dean of the School of Dentistry, congratulates Nadia Procter for receiving the 50th Anniversary Award May 13.

Julia McCormac presents the Duncan McCormac Memorial Scholarship – named for her husband - to Sabrina Thigpen May 8.

Christen Walters, M-4, receives the Gallagher Award from Dr. Bryan D. Cowan, professor and chair of ob-gyn, May 1.

New residencies highlight PT program’s growth

Only five years ago, the Physical Therapy Program in the School of Health Related Professions at the University of Mississippi Medical Center was a master’s-level program. Last year, the school graduated its first class of physical therapists at the new Doctorate of Physical Therapy level. And now, the department has two blossoming residency programs to its credit.

“We’ve been leap-frogging,” said Neva Greenwald, associate professor and chair of physical therapy. “We’ve done well for a rural state because there are less than 100 (PT) residency programs in the country.”

Last summer, a 2008 graduate of the SHRP began a one-year sports

Grad school award recognizes trio for research advances

In recognition of their research on topics from bacteria to brains, three of this year’s doctoral recipients took home awards named for an early director of the UMMC graduate program.

Iqbal Massodi received the 2009 first-place Charles C. Randall Award at a May 7 honors ceremony for students in the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences. Kim Gannon and Pratik Shah were each named award finalists.

Speaking from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston where he’s in a post-doctoral fellowship, Massodi, a Ph.D. recipient in biochemistry from Kashmir, India, said he’s grateful for the Randall Award and recognition from the School of Graduate Studies.

Dr. Diane K. Beebe, chair of the Department of Family Medicine, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Board of Family Medicine.

The American Board of Family Medicine is a 40-year-old medical specialty not-for-profit organization that seeks to improve the quality of medical care available to the public. To do so, it establishes and maintains standards of excellence in the family medicine specialty, improves education standards in family medicine and evaluates practitioners who apply for and hold certificates. Beebe will serve a five-year term on the 15-member board of directors.

“This is terrific for Dr. Beebe and for our institution. I am proud of this

The 2009 Children’s Miracle Network Celebration broadcast will air from 8-10 p.m. on Saturday, May 30, and from 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, on WJTV News Channel 12. Patients and their families, local sponsors and hospital staff will be featured on the broadcast. All proceeds from the two-day event will benefit the more than 150,000 children treated each year at the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children. To contribute during the broadcast, call 4-KIDS or 1-888-681-KIDS (5437). For more information about the broadcast, call 4-1100.