2024

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Rachel S. Tyrone, PhD
Rachel S. Tyrone, PhD

SOPH Alum Spotlight - Rachel Tyrone

Published on Monday, November 25, 2024

Meet Dr. Rachel S. Tyrone, a proud native of Monticello, Mississippi, and a lifelong Mississippian dedicated to advancing pediatric health and development. Dr. Tyrone began her academic journey at the University of Southern Mississippi, earning a Bachelor and later a Master’s of Science in Speech-Language Pathology. Her passion for pediatric care led her to join the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in 2016, where she has provided clinical services to children ever since.

In 2017, Dr. Tyrone began participating in an interdisciplinary training program, the Child Health and Developmental Promotion (CHDP) Fellowship, that provides intensive training in early childhood health and development. This fellowship, launched through a multi-million-dollar grant, focused on population health and systems building for early childhood. It was through this experience that Dr. Tyrone deepened her commitment to understanding and addressing the factors that shape childhood health outcomes. She continues to serve as the CHDP Program Coordinator and Supervising Speech-Language Pathologist. Dr. Tyrone also serves as a content expert for several Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) programs that focus on early childhood health and development. She supports one ECHO program aimed at educating primary care providers and another designed for child care providers. Additionally, she is the ECHO coordinator for the Maternal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (MAMHAS) program, which launched this fall and will expand with additional sessions in the spring.

In her current role, Dr. Tyrone also provides program evaluation support for various grants and has plans to pursue future funding opportunities aimed at enhancing the quality of early childhood experiences for the most vulnerable Mississippians.

As one of the first students in UMMC’s PhD in Population Health Science (PHS) program, Dr. Tyrone graduated in 2022 with a research focus on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their impact on early childhood health and development. She credits the PhD coursework with enriching her clinical practice and enhancing her understanding of the upstream factors that influence health and development.

“I am thankful for my time and experiences as a PHS student,” says Dr. Tyrone. “When I first entered the program, I contemplated on how I could stay true to my clinical training while also become a budding Population Health researcher. As I matriculated through the program, it became very evident how my knowledge as a speech-language pathologist would marry well as a population health scientist and vice versa. Throughout my time, I had several fantastic mentors who helped me grow into the clinician-scientist that I am today. I will forever be grateful that I pursued this degree!”

Dr. Tyrone’s journey illustrates a deep commitment to improving health outcomes for Mississippi’s youngest residents, and we are proud to celebrate her as an alumna making a difference in our community and beyond.