The rigors of chemotherapy and radiation for her breast cancer all but rang Lorraine Hinton's bells over the past year.

Today, she returned the favor.

“I'm probably going to cry. I'm a crier,” the Yazoo City native said minutes before she tugged a small rope attached to a golden bell at the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Cancer Institute.

She's allowed. The do-it-all employee of Plaza Twin Cinema, grandmother to two precious girls, and longtime Head Start teacher marked the end of her cancer treatment by being the first patient to ring a symbolic bell, purchased by oncology fellows in honor of longtime oncologist Dr. Tate Thigpen, who recently retired after shepherding UMMC's cancer programs for decades.

She's endured pain, mouth sores, a tongue that wouldn't function, and utter exhaustion during her six rounds of chemo and 30 radiation treatments. “It took me a whole minute to eat a chip at a Mexican restaurant. My hair fell out a week and one day after my first treatment,” the 62-year-old remembered.

Sixteen students presented their research at the 2017 School of Dentistry research day February 21 in the Norman C. Nelson Student Union at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

“This has been an exciting year for research in the School of Dentistry,” said Dr. Jason Griggs, associate dean for research and professor and chair of Biomedical Materials Science.

The school's faculty received more than $1 million in research funding this fiscal year, 39 percent more than last year. This increase helps make research possible for dental students like Kendra Clark and Jiman Nelson, who won awards for their poster presentations Tuesday.

Clark, a third-year student, won the Hinman Student Research Award. She studies ways to use vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, to promote regeneration in tissues without sufficient blood vessels.

“A decrease in blood supply can limit the effectiveness of a graft, which means it could fail,” said Clark, who is the UMMC and national president of the National Student Research Group for dentistry.

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

The School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences dean receives a national leadership award, the IHL honors a clinical health sciences chair for his diversity efforts and a clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice earns a precepting accolade.