When University of Mississippi Medical Center leaders asked employees face-to-face their feelings on communication and respect on campus, they got honest feedback.

Their conversations were part of Leadership Rounds, a key element of UMMC's journey to becoming a high-reliability organization. More than 100 Medical Center executives, physicians, managers and administrators fanned out across campus shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday. They met employees where they were, be it at labor and delivery in Wiser Hospital or on a shuttle bus circling the stadium parking lot.

“What does respect mean to you in the workplace? How do you feel disrespected?” Shannon Wentz, administrator to Chief Medical Officer Michael Henderson, asked those riding the bus piloted by Charles “Coach” Ward.

One employee said she felt disrespected when she and her supervisor met confidentially, yet she later discovered some of her coworkers knew details of the conversation. “You should be able to talk to your supervisor and it not go back to everybody else,” she said.

Sometimes, lack of respect in the workplace can be conveyed in a more subtle way. “Attitude,” said April Thornton, a pediatric neurology scheduler.

Dr. John Ruckdeschel views the pieces of cancer care practiced by multiple departments at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and across the state with an eye toward using them to help solve the state's puzzle of high cancer deaths.

“The pieces are here. I want to take them to the next level,” he said. “They could be organized more, built out.”

The process is under way. The man credited with helping bring Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa to its National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center status said UMMC already has more cancer researchers, more cancer physicians and better organized programs than Moffitt had when he arrived in 1991.

His experience was attractive when UMMC began searching for a Cancer Institute director.

“Dr. Ruckdeschel has a rich and broad background in developing a focus on cancer, and a national reputation as an established leader in this area,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the school of medicine. “I look forward to his leadership of our Cancer Institute.”

In January, Ruckeschel succeeded Dr. Srinivasan Vijayakumar, who served three years as Cancer Institute director.  Vijayakumar will continue as professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology.

A physiology seminar by a UMMC neurologist highlights an upcoming academic week shortened by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, but more presentations are on the horizon for the Medical Center campus.

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