2013 SHRP Alumnus of the Year

Debra "Debbie" Westerfield Christie is a graduate of the SHRP Medical Record Administration program (Health Informatics and Information Management) at UMMC.  She obtained her master of business administration degree from Millsaps College.  She is the Director of the Department of Cancer Research and Registry at UMMC, a position she has held for more than 30 years.  In this position, Debbie oversees adult cancer clinical trials, the hospital and the Mississippi cancer registries.  She has certifications as a Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA), Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP), and Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR). 

She has held a number positions including president with the Mississippi Health Information Management Association and the Mississippi Cancer Registrars Association.  She is a charter member and was the first president of the Alpha Eta Honorary Society, UMMC Chapter.

On the national level, Debbie served as chair of the Southwest Oncology Group Clinical Research Associates Committee for a combined total of 20 years.  In this role she oversaw the coordination of the educational activities, programs and scientific interactions of clinical research professions within the Southwest Oncology Group, a national cooperative cancer research group funded by the National Cancer Institute.  She oversaw the development of the first comprehensive clinical trials data management training course for a National Cancer Institute funded cooperative groupthat became a model for the NCI cooperative group training courses.  She has been a grant reviewer or served on a National Cancer Institute grant review committee for 30 years.

Debbie lives in Jackson.  Daughters Colleen and Carley live in Idaho and Montana.