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Internal Advisory Committee

The Internal Advisory Committee is comprised of outstanding scientists and clinicians of diverse interest from multiple institutions who assess progress and review the direction of the center on a regular basis.

	Robert Hester, PhD (Chair), Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor, Professor of Physiology and Orthopedic Surgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center.  Dr. Hester’s area of expertise is integrative physiology, specific in modeling and computer simulation of the cardiovascular system, blood flow control, vascular biology, exercise, obesity and metabolic syndrome, computational physiology.  His current research focus is continuing the computational simulation of human physiology started by Drs. Guyton and Coleman in the 1970s.
	Javed Butler, MD, MPH, MBA, Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center.  Dr. Butler is a board-certified in cardiovascular medicine and advanced heart failure and transplate medicine.  His research interests focus on clinical trials in patients with heart failure.
	Mohamed Elasri, PhD, Associate Dean for The College of Science and Technology and Professor of Microbiology, Director, Center for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, University of Southern Mississippi. The focus of Dr. Elasri’s research program is global gene regulation of virulence Staphylococcus aureus.  His work has led to the identification and characterization of the msaABCR operon which is involved in biofilm development, virulence regulation, and antibiotic resistance. The ultimate goal of Dr. Elasri’s research program is to study the mechanism used by the msaABCR operon to regulate its gene targets.
	Tammy Fordham-Bell, Ms. Bell is a health educator for the Mercy Delta Express Project, which delivers mobile school-based health care to children in the South Delta School District and serves about 1,100 students.  She also serves a member of the MCCTR Community Advisory Board.
	Ervin Fox, MD, MPH, Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center.  Dr. Fox is a Cardiology Specialist and has more than 28 years of experience in the medical field.  He also serves as Director of Noninvasive imaging at the medical center and site PI for the Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal Study.
	Tenton Gould, PhD, ATC, Dean, College of Health and Professor of Kinesiology, University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Gould's areas of expertise include the brain injury of concussion, facial, and dental injury.
	John Kirwan, PhD, Executive Director, Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Dr. Kirwan is an internationally renowned obesity, diabetes, and nutrition scientist whose professional expertise includes over 30 years of research, teaching and service in the obesity and diabetes fields.
	Claudia Lucchinetti, MD, Professor of Neurology, Mayo Clinic. Dr. Lucchinetti's area of research interest is on investigating the immunopathology and pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica and other CNS inflammatory demyelinating disorders. Her laboratory uses experimental neuropathological techniques in order to investigate the mechanisms of tissue damage across the spectrum of demyelinating diseases. Dr. Lucchinetti is principal investigator of the MS Lesion Project, an international collaborative study investigating the clinical, serologic, genetic and radiological correlates of the MS lesion.
	Gailen Marshall, MD, PhD, Professor  in the School of Population Health and R. Faser Triplett Sr. Chair of Allergy and Immunology, University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Marshall serves as executive director of the Mississippi Clinical Research and Trial Center and Chief, Laboratory of Behavioral Immunology Research.  His area of expertise includes allergy, immunology, and internal medicine.
	Thomas Mosley, PhD, Robbie and Dudley Hughes Distinguished MIND (Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia) Center Chair, Professor of Geriatric Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center.  Dr. Mosley has an extensive background in clinical neuropsychology, behavioral neurology, and population-based studies in neuroepidemiology. His research efforts have been largely devoted to uncovering how and why the brain changes with age. He is the principal investigator for several NIH-funded studies including the multi-site Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Neurocognitive Study.
	Jane Reckelhoff, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and Director, Women's Health Research Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Reckelhoff's research focuses on the mechanisms responsible for the sex differences in blood pressure control and renal disease, postmenopausal hypertension, and polycystic ovary syndrome.
	Richard Roman, PhD, Billy Guyton Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Roman is a translational investigator with interests in hypertension and diabetic chronic kidney disease.
	Richard Summers, MD, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Summers' primary research interests include both basic science and clinical investigations in the area of cardiovascular disease. He is an expert in computer modeling and computational physiology.