When Sarah Herrington found herself in a hospital bed with no hope of discharge days before graduation, she was devastated to learn that she wouldn’t be able to walk across the Commencement stage with the rest of her class. What the radiologic sciences student didn't know: UMMC faculty had a plan to bring graduation to her.

On May 23, the University of Mississippi Medical Center sent 853 graduates on a quest to help heal the sick and find solutions to health care challenges. The graduates, who will either be beginning new careers or starting new chapters in the health sciences, will have a major impact throughout the state and nation.

UMMC has joined 15 other universities in a six-year, $21.4 million study aimed at understanding why people in rural areas of the southern U.S. have a higher risk of heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders. Sponsored by the NIH, the study will eventually recruit participants from two northern Mississippi counties.

Several interesting events are scheduled for the upcoming weeks at the Medical Center.

Medical Center leadership is proud to acknowledge those employees who will celebrate service anniversaries during the week of May 27-June 2.