Annual Report 2021-2022

Main Content

Research Achievements

Click here for image long description.

Collage of two research achievement photos. On the left, UMMC's Molecular and Genomics Core Facility Researcher Raima Sen. On the right, Interprofessional education and research collaboration among Ph.D. student Jaccare Jauregui Ulloa, left, Nena Hawkins, center and mentor Dr. Salazar Marocho measuring the bond strength of resin-bonded sample after laser irradiation in a medium simulating body temperature.

UMMC received a five-year, $20 million competitive renewal of the Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research. The Center’s mission is to develop a powerful and sustainable research enterprise that has an important public health impact by reducing obesity and cardiometabolic-related diseases in Mississippi. Dr. Joey Granger, associate vice chancellor for research, is the principal investigator.
Dr. Jane Reckelhoff, UMMC professor and chair of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, received the 2021 Excellence Award for Hypertension Research from the American Heart Association’s Council on Hypertension. The award recognizes researchers who have had a major impact in the field of hypertension and whose work has contributed to improved treatment and greater understanding of high blood pressure.
Dr. Saurabh Chandra received a $17.6M grant from the Mississippi Department of Education to create a telehealth delivery system within K-12 schools in the state to provide remote health care and health care provider access to students.
Charlotte Hobbs, professor of pediatrics, participated in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded, multi-site study that found infants whose mothers were vaccinated against COVID-19 had a 61% decreased risk of hospitalization from the virus. The findings were cited by Meet the Press, Fox News, and the director of the CDC (“Factors Associated with Positive SARS-CoV-2 Test Results in Outpatient Health Facilities and Emergency Departments Among Children and Adolescents Aged <18 Years — Mississippi, September–November 2020 and Effectiveness of Maternal Vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine During Pregnancy Against COVID-19–Associated Hospitalization in Infants Aged <6 Months — 17 States, July 2021–January 2022”).
Dr. Leslie Musshafen, executive director of research at UMMC, led a study that found American Indian and Alaska Native COVID-19 patients were two to four times more likely to die in the hospital than patients of all other races despite having a lower average risk of death associated with comorbidities. The Chief Medical Officer of the Indian Health Service wrote a commentary on the study. Findings were cited by US News & World Report, United Press International, and the New York Times.
UMMC joined RECOVER, short for Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery, a $470 million national study on who is most likely to develop long COVID, and how to treat and prevent it. Dr. Gailen Marshall, R. Faser Triplett Chair of Allergy and Immunology, is the lead investigator for UMMC’s study site.
UMMC became one of 10 U.S. trauma centers to participate in a Department of Defense-funded study, Type O Whole Blood and Assessment of Age during Prehospital Resuscitation Trial. Dr. Matthew Kutcher, associate professor of surgery, is the principal investigator.