Dr. Raman Palabindala loves his job as a hospitalist for many reasons, but one especially stands out.

“We talk to the families every day, and multiple times in a day if needed. We take the time to establish that relationship with patients and families. We take care of patients as a team,” said Palabindala, an assistant professor of medicine. “We are there in the hospital 24 hours when patients and families need us.”

That's his role as a hospitalist, a physician who exclusively cares for adult inpatients, whether they've recently had surgery, come through the Emergency Department, or were admitted for other reasons. “We are the one and only attending-based service for the entire hospital, unlike other services that have residents and fellows,” said Palabindala, who came to the Medical Center in December 2015. “We don't have a clinic outside the hospital.”

His dedication to his patients and his excellence in medicine have been recognized by ACP Hospitalist magazine. Palabindala is among the Top Hospitalists for 2016, one of 10 physicians chosen from dozens of nominations nationwide by the editorial board of the publication of the American College of Physicians. At age 35, he's one of the youngest honorees in the program.

“I work really hard in life,” said Palabindala, the Medical Center's lead hospitalist. “I knew when I was in my residency that I wanted to be a hospitalist, and I made contacts with national leaders to learn as much as I can.”

He was nominated by his colleagues at Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan, where he joined the staff in 2012 as a hospitalist in the Department of Internal Medicine. He served on the department's clinical teaching staff at the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, and in 2015, he took on additional duties at SAMC as a home health director and clerkship director.

He is a graduate of the Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences in Narketpally, India. Palabindala completed residency training in internal medicine at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, serving as chief medical resident from 2011-12.

A new study based on Jackson Heart Study data is the first to show that rare genetic variants may increase the risk of their associated diseases, regardless of family medical history.

University of Mississippi Medical Center faculty Dr. James Wilson, professor of physiology and biophysics, and Dr. Adolfo Correa, professor of medicine and director of the Jackson Heart Study, are co-authors on the paper published Nov. 9 in Science Translational Medicine.

Most of the study data came from 3,223 members of the Jackson Heart Study cohort. Started in 2000, the JHS is the largest longitudinal study of African-American cardiovascular health in the United States. It is a collaborative project between UMMC, Jackson State University and Tougaloo College.

“We have assessed a large number of traits in these same people, such as blood cholesterol, the heart's electrical activity, heart structure, extensive medical history and follow-up of medical events over time,” Correa said.

These comprehensive measurements allowed Harvard Medical School researchers to study the relationship between rare variants in 56 genes and 24 inheritable conditions. These conditions include certain cancers, high cholesterol and heart morphologies. The goal was to determine if people with these variants had higher rates of the conditions that these genes are expected to influence.

Genetic variants, or mutations, are differences in the DNA sequence. Some are benign, but others cause serious illnesses.

According to the paper, JHS cohort members with a rare variant were 4.7 times more likely to develop an associated condition during their lifetime. The researchers also studied European-Americans in the Framingham Heart Study, a Massachusetts-based study of cardiovascular disease risk factors. These people were six times more likely to develop an associated condition.

The findings suggest some benefit to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics' recommendation that clinical laboratories check for disease-causing variants in these 56 genes.

“Genetic screening has the potential to identify people who need particularly close screening for specific medical conditions, and perhaps can guide our treatment choices to allow each person to get the most effective treatment with the fewest side effects,” Wilson said.

“For example, if a patient has a variant associated with high cholesterol, their doctor should test their cholesterol levels, and if they are not in a healthy range they could begin treatment with medications,” Wilson said. In comparison, “People who have gene variants that are associated with cancer can have more frequent cancer screenings.”

“That said, much more information in many populations will be needed to make firm recommendations,” Wilson said. “For now, it would be premature to start looking for these genetic variants in everyone.”

The study is important because it demonstrates a seemingly obvious, but difficult to show relationship: people with genetic differences have health conditions more often than those who do not. Many studies rely on data from patient visits. Because the subjects already have signs of disease, this practice creates a biased sample. The prospective designs of the JHS and FHS avoid this pitfall.

The Medical Center is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff.